Bossy Effeminate Teenage Boys
by Makai Goddess Ookami
Summary: Rei's just moved from China, and on a whim Michael and Max convince him to hang out with Tala- the school's biggest prick and leader of the Demolition Boys. Suddenly though, Rei isn't just observing them- he's ONE of them. AU. ReiKai, TalaKai. Mean Girls.
1. Chapter One

Title: _**Bossy Effeminate Teenage-Boys**_

Author: MGO

Character(s)/Pairing(s): Rei Kon, Kai Hiwatari, Tala Ivanov, Spencer, Ian, Max Tate, Michael/Rei x Kai, Tala x Kai

Warnings: Slash, Language, AU, OOC – well - characters, Un-Beta'd

Spoilers: _Mean Girls_

Word Count: Approx. 30,578 (this part, approx. 2,546)

Rants: Guh! This took six days to write, approximately forty hours of work altogether. I hadn't meant for it to get so crazy, or long, but I started writing it and couldn't stop. In the end, this is just something to prove I really have too much free time on my hands. I should have been doing math homework. This is the longest fic I have ever written, and it's my first Beyblade fic in over five years, so I apologize. Also, I never watched past season two, so any characters from later seasons I just pulled outta my ass.

I apologize ahead of time if I spelled it "Micheal" instead of "Michael", and thus inconsistent through the entire text. I tried to catch all of these, but those 'e's and 'a's are tricky little buggers.

This story is completely finished, too, so I should be able to post every new segment on Thursday. (More often, I suppose, if enough people want it that bad.)

_Please note_: I **never** intend to take on such a big project again. **Ever**. I'm done writing fanfic, for good. Okay, yeah, I can't believe that myself.

**When I say Mr. Granger, I mean Tyson's father, not his grandfather. Just, FYI.**

Summary: Rei's just moved from China, and on a whim Michael and Max convince him to hang out with Tala Ivanov – the school's biggest prick, and leader of the Demolition Boys. Somehow though, somewhere along the way, Rei isn't just observing them – he's one of them. To make matters worse, he's in love with Kai Hiwatari, Tala's ex-boyfriend.

Disclaimer: I don't own Beyblade, Mean Girls, IHOP or Bro-Rape. All are property of they're proper and respectful owners, and I only intended to get a few laughs out of them while I could. No suing me, s'il vous plait.

* * *

A soft chiming ring echoed in the small room, and Rei's eyes flickered open to stare up at the ceiling, light coming in through the windows he had forgotten to close the curtains on last night before he'd fallen asleep. He glanced over at his clock. 6.30h. With a heavy sigh, he closed his eyes for a moment, readying himself for the morning.

He opened his eyes again, blinking in mild confusion at how bright the room had become. He glanced over at the clock once more. 7.15h. He'd fallen back asleep! With a strangled cry, he sprang from bed, wrestling himself from the sheets that had tangled itself around him. Oh god, it was his first day of school, and he was going to be late!

He dressed quickly in his Chinese garb – he hadn't had time to buy some "normal" clothes, and besides, he felt comfortable in what he was wearing now. He stumbled through the halls, in search of a hairbrush. He had to tear apart three cabinets before he found one, and brushed his hair as quickly as he could, before tying it back.

"You're going to be late, Rei!" a voice called, somewhere from downstairs.

"No, look, I'm all ready!" Rei replied, stumbling slightly as he descended the stairs after brushing his teeth. He glanced over at the clock on the television News. 7.30h. Not bad. He always had been good at time management when in a rush.

"Feed the cats, will you," an elderly woman said, and Rei nodded, obeying his grandmother's request.

He stepped into the kitchen, the smell of eggs cooking filled the room, and his mouth started to water. Pushing it to the back of his mind for now, he rooted through the cabinets until he found an orange Iams bag, and poured some of the food into a large bowl. Seemingly, out of nowhere, two tabby cats appeared, mewling at him and rubbing against his legs before they started to eat.

"Eat quickly," Rei's grandmother said, placing a plate on the table, "School starts at eight o'clock sharp." She informed, patting his shoulder lovingly, before disappearing into the living room.

Rei sighed, but obeyed. Food such as this shouldn't be scarfed down, but he didn't really have a choice this time around. He ate as quickly as he could, despite the fact there were butterfly's quenching in his stomach. It was his first day of school. How on Earth would he survive? He swallowed his last bite, before dumping the dish into the sink for his grandmother to wash later.

"Nai-Nai?" Rei asked, poking his head into the living room. "Ye-Ye?"

"Out here, Rei," his grandmother called, and Rei stepped out onto the front porch, shielding his eyes from the sun. His grandmother and grandfather, were standing out on the deck, his grandfather holding up a camera that Rei briefly recognized as his own. "Ye-ye wants to take a picture of us to send back home."

"Oh, okay," Rei said, moving to stand by his grandmother. She only came up to his shoulder, but despite her stout nature and her age, the grip in which she held Rei's arm, while gentle, was strong. His grandfather was the same way, but years of training in the martial arts had been good for both of them.

'Stand close,' his grandfather said in Chinese, never really having gotten the hang for English. Rei nodded, inching closer to his grandmother as the picture was taken, both of them smiling. 'Aha. Ready for school, grandson?'

Rei nodded his head. Yes. He was ready for this.

- - -

Rei Kon. Fifteen years old, and starting his first day of school. Not that he'd never been schooled before, he could read any Chinese character, and his English wasn't too shabby, but before he had lived in a small town in Chinese mountains. He was taught in a one room class room, with eleven other students, all varying in age.

Up until a week ago, Rei had spent his entire life in that village, never quite able to journey more than a few miles from home. That was, until his mother, who had been a girl from the city herself, had manged to convince Rei's father to allow him to move to the United States of America to live with her parents, at least to finish his schooling. He was smart, the entire village knew it, and this was his chance to prove himself.

Because he had the chance to make something of himself, the Chinese Neko-Jin was going to do everything in his power to accomplish what most of his friends never would be able to. He was going to go collage, he was going to learn everything he could, and then he was going to home, back to his parents, and his friends. He'd make them proud. He had too.

So one week ago, he and his mother had set out of their village, traveled the long distance to Hong Kong, and yesterday he'd gotten on a plane, leaving his mother behind. He'd never met his grandparent's before, but he recognized his grandmother immediately. She looked just like his mother. Holding back his tears, he had bowed to her, and collected his bag.

He was ready for anything that this country had to throw at him.

- - -

"Are you okay, Rei?" His grandmother asked, turning slightly in her seat to glance at Rei.

Rei's amber eyes flickered to meet hers, and he nodded his head briefly. "Yeah. I'm fine," he managed to say. He wished he hadn't eaten breakfast, now. He could feel it rising in the back of his throat, and given the proper moment, he'd probably throw it back up. He had to hold on. He could do this. "It's just so different from back home."

His grandmother reached back in the small car to put a bony hand on his knee lightly. "You'll be fine," she said softly, tears brimming in her eyes as a happy smile filled her face. "You are my daughter's son."

Rei smiled, placing a hand over his grandmother's as his grandfather pulled into the parking lot of the large school. The Boris Balcov Academy. The BBA. Despite it's pretentious name, it was a public school, but that didn't lesson Rei's fear of it any less. Taking a deep breath, he clicked his seatbelt off, and opened the car door, stepping onto the school ground's for the first time.

'Make us proud,' His grandfather said, stepping out of the car as well.

'Of course, Ye-Ye,' Rei answered, bowing respectfully. His grandfather bowed in kind.

"Oh, Rei," His grandmother said, pulling him into a tight embrace before handing him his school bag. "We'll see you at home tonight. Are you sure you know how to get back?"

Rei nodded his head. "Take Main street until you get to Beryllium Lane. Then take a left. House number Nine-One-Oh-Two."

His grandmother nodded her head, smiling proudly through her tears. "We'll see you tonight, Rei."

"Okay, good bye Nai-Nai," He said, hugging her once more, then bowed slightly to his grandfather once more. 'Ye-Ye.'

With the goodbye, Rei waved, before turning his back to his grandparents. Here he was, starting the first day of his new life. He took a deep breathe, slinging his bag onto his shoulders, and crossed the great lawns to the front of The BBA. He could do this. He would be fine. Really.

"Hi," He said, smiling shyly to a bunch of pretty Asian girls sitting on the brick wall, before continuing up the steps. They stared after him with mild shock, amazed he had the gall to great them.

Rei ignored this, and continued to walk. He passed a group of jocks mock fighting each other, two boys getting stoned behind a tree as indiscreetly as Rei believed possible, two students practically fucking on the grass, and a large male eating what appeared to be an entire leg of lamb.

Swallowing, Rei pushed the doors of the building open, staring into the crowded interior. He had made it this far. He could do this. He reached into the front flap of his bag, and pulled out a sheaf of paper. Homeroom. A-13. He glanced around, relieved to see a large sign sporting 'A Wing' in large letters. Letting out a sigh, Rei headed into that direction, a little bit of confidence coming back to him.

He pushed open the door, and approached the desk at the front, where a refined looking male with purple hair was sharpening a pencil. Tentatively, Rei approached.

"Hi, I don't know if anyone told you about me," Rei said, feeling confident. "I'm a new student. My name's Rei Kon."

"I don't care," The male replied curtly, finishing sharpening his pencil, eying Rei with a look of mild distaste before returning to his seat.

Oh. Ouch. Rei felt flattened. He nearly jumped when he heard two kids laughing at him. Ignoring this, Rei went to sit in a seat, when one of the males, a redhead with a baseball cap on, interrupted him.

"Oh, you don't want to sit there," He said, "Hilary Tatibana will sit there to be next to her boyfriend."

Rei paused, glancing at a small male who was staring at the front board was pointedly ignoring him. As if on cue, a brown hair girl entered the room, and brushed past Rei. She and the male started to make out without saying so much as 'hello'. Shrugging, Rei moved onto the next seat, in the front row.

"Don't sit there, either," the male with the baseball cap advised. Rei looked at him warily, waiting for his excuse as to what was wrong with that particular seat. "Do you want to carry attendance sheets to the office every day?" He asked, quirking an eyebrow.

Sighing, Rei shook his head, and moved onto a third chair.

"Nope," The male's voice came back tauntingly, "he farts a lot." He said in an intentionally rude stage whisper. The guy turned and glared at Baseball cap, but didn't say anything.

Rei, having run out of other choices, took the seat next to the male in the baseball cap. "Thanks," he said, smiling shyly.

A blonde male with large blue eyes sitting behind Baseball Cap leaned forward on his desk, tapping Rei with the eraser end of his pencil. "Did you go to The Abbey last year?" he asked.

Rei blinked in mild confusion, shaking his head. "No?"

"'Cause you look like the guy who played Iago in their production '_Othello, and the boy band Venice_'," The blonde said, frowning.

"Wasn't me," Rei said, flashing a nervous smile. Did he look like an actor?

"Thank god," The blonde said, shaking his head. "He was an ass."

"This is Max," Baseball Cap told Rei, "He's almost too spazzy to function."

Max knocked Baseball Cap's hat off in a mild huff of annoyance.

"It's nice to meet you," Rei said, forcing a smile. These guys were weird, but okay.

A male student bumped past Baseball Cap, shoving him roughly on purpose with his bag. "Nice hat, Michael, what hobo did you steal it from?"

"Your father," Baseball Cap – no, Michael, Rei corrected himself – said immediately, scowling slightly.

The class room door opened again, and in stepped a beautiful blonde woman with blue eyes. In the corner of his eyes, Rei saw Max shrink back in his seat, holding a folder up to hide himself for some reason. Rei frowned slightly, but looked back at the woman.

"Where's your teacher?" She asked, a clipped tone, but out of exasperation.

_Speak of the Devi_l, Rei thought, as at that moment, a male teacher stepped into the room. He had unruly brown hair, and he couldn't have been that old. He laughed at himself, balancing a bag and two large boxes.

"Okay, I'm late, but I brought donuts, so don't tell Mrs. Tate-" he said, pausing as his eyes settled on the blonde woman. "Oh. Hi, good morning." A nervous smile crossed over his face, but he placed his bag down, and opened a box to offer a donut to the dean.

She pushed the box away gently, but not rudely. "All right," she started, turning to the class, "I just want to let everyone know that we have a new sophomore with us. He just moved here from China." She smiled, and all eyes turned to Rei. "So let's help him adjust to academic life here at The BBA." She glanced at a note card in her hand. "Rei Kon?"

Rei nodded his head. "Yeah, that's me."

After another brief moment of inspection by the class as a whole, they turned away, losing interested. Rei wasn't sure whether this was a positive sign, or a negative one.

"Well, welcome Rei, and thank you, Mrs. Tate," the teacher said, brushing his bangs from his face.

"Please try to be on time this year, Mr. Granger," Mrs. Tate said, sighing, before she left the room.

"Where are you going first period?" Michael asked, turning his attention back to Rei.

Rei blinked in confusion, before glancing at his class schedule. "Um, 10th Grade Health. Room B14. Do you know where that is?"

Michael turned to glance at Max. "I think that's in the back building."

Max nodded his head enthusiastically. "Oh yeah, that's in the back building."

Michael grinned widely. "We'll take you."

Mr. Granger brought their attention back to the front of the room. "Anyone for donuts?" He asked.

* * *

**TBC**

**When I say Mr. Granger, I mean Tyson's father, not his grandfather. Just, FYI.**


	2. Chapter Two

Title: **_Bossy Effeminate Teenage-Boys_**

Author: MGO

Character(s)/Pairing(s): Rei Kon, Kai Hiwatari, Tala Ivanov, Spencer, Ian, Max Tate, Michael/Rei x Kai, Tala x Kai

Warnings: Slash, Language, AU, OOC – well - characters, Un-Beta'd

Spoilers: _Mean Girls_

Word Count: Approx. 30,578 (this part, approx. 1,836)

Rants: So, I've decided to go with the Monday + Friday update schedule, because that gives people both time to read and review, and I _really_ don't want to be updating this three months from now. How selfish of me, I know. Besides, I figured the few readers I had would enjoy this better.

So here's part two. This is going to be crazy close to Mean Girls (because I watched the movie like a half dozen times, skimmed a borrowed copy of the book, and read the script while writing this) and I apologize to anyone who doesn't like that. You can stop reading at any ole' time. (I wish you wouldn't, but who am I to dictate your life? I'm not Jesus.)

Also, I love Michael. He's one of my favourite characters, and is unappreciated. I hate Tyson. He's loud, rude, and obnoxious. So yes, Michael is going to be a main character. No, Tyson isn't. I think I mention Tyson half a dozen times in this entire thing.

Summary: Rei's just moved from China, and on a whim Michael and Max convince him to hang out with Tala Ivanov – the school's biggest prick, and leader of the Demolition Boys. Somehow though, somewhere along the way, Rei isn't just observing them – he's one of them. To make matters worse, he's in love with Kai Hiwatari, Tala's ex-boyfriend.

Disclaimer: I don't own Beyblade, Mean Girls, IHOP or Bro-Rape. All are property of they're proper and respectful owners, and I only intended to get a few laughs out of them while I could. No suing me, s'il vous plait.

* * *

Rei followed behind Michael and Max faithfully as they led him to his next class. He hadn't expected meeting new people - to be liked and helped by them - to be this easy. As it was the two males before him seemed to like him well enough, forcing a bright smile onto Rei's face.

"Watch it," Max said teasingly, brushing past a green haired boy, "New meat, coming though."

Okay, so maybe Max could lay off the comments of his being new, this being the third of the sort in almost as many minutes.

Michael pushed open large glass doors that lead to the side of the building, the football field looming in the distance. They crossed a large green field, suspicion and uncertainty settling in Rei's gut. What on Earth was going on? Where was the back building?

Michael plopped down onto the grass, pulling a baseball out of his pocket, and chucked it up and down, catching it easily. Max sprawled out next to him, a lazy smile on his face.

"Where's the back building?" Rei found himself asking, glancing around the open fields curiously.

"It burned down in 1987," Michael replied casually, tilting the brim of his hat up to get a better look at Rei.

Back in the school building a bell sounded, causing Rei to turn his head and glance back at it. Michael patted the spot on the ground next to him.

Rei hesitated in sitting down, shifting his bag slightly. "Won't we get into some sort of trouble for this?" He asked.

"If you show up late, yes," Michael said, nodding his head.

"But," Max said, in the same teasing tone he used before, "If you just don't show up at all, they'll never even notice." He said assuringly.

Pausing for a brief moment, Rei sighed. Why not? He dropped his bag onto the ground, before sitting cross legged before Max and Michael. "So now what?" He asked, finding himself relaxing in their presence.

"Now you tell us about yourself," Max said, rolling over onto his stomach, propping himself up on his elbows to look at Rei better.

Seeing no reason as to why not, Rei briefly explained to Max and Michael as to why he had moved from China to The United States, Max listening attentively, Michael playing with his baseball, but listening all the same. He told them about the tests he had been required to take a few days ago before he had even left China.

"So you took all these tests, and then what?" Max asked, his blue eyes filled with wonder.

"They placed me in all 10th grade classes," Rei shrugged, "Except for senior Calculus."

"I'm repeating Freshman gym," Max said with a hint of sorrow in his voice.

"How do you spell your name, Rei?" Michael asked suddenly, holding his baseball in one hand, glancing over at Rei.

"R-E-I?" Rei replied, smiling in confusion.

"Do you know, like, karate?" Michael continued.

Rei shrugged. "Not karate, but my Ye-Ye on my father's side taught me some martial arts when I was little," he said, "and my Ye-Ye that I'm living with now teaches it."

"I'm gonna call you Karate" Michael said, smirking at the confused look on Rei's face.

"What's Ye-Ye mean?" Max asked, stopping Rei from responding to Michael.

"Oh, sorry, grandfather," Rei said.

"Oh..." Max said, his voice trailing off, and he stared up at the clouds almost wistfully for a moment before he realized Michael and Rei were still there, staring at him. He forced himself to sit up, cross legged as well. "I am _so_ going to mentor you." He said.

"Um?" Rei said, rubbing the back of his neck in mild confusion.

"What else is important that I can tell you about?" Max asked himself, tapping his chin in though, completely ignoring Rei. "The cafeteria is _terrible_. You're going to want to buy your lunch in the Snack Shack." He beamed at this point. "I recommend the spicy chicken sandwiches. They're not really spicy, but they're _delicious_."

"Okay," Rei said, nodding his head.

Michael just rolled his eyes, returning his attention to playing with his baseball.

"What else?" Max asked, glancing at Michael. "Oh! Spring Fling."

"Spring Fling is _not_ important," Michael snorted, throwing a look of disgust and annoyance at Max.

"It is to me," Max defended, pouting slightly.

"What's-?" Rei started, before Max cut him off.

"At the end of every year, the graduation seniors throw a dance called Spring Fling for underclassmen," Max explained, still glaring at Michael. "Whomsoever is elected Spring Fling King and Queen automatically become head of the Student Activity Committee and since I am an active member of the Student Activity Committee, I would say, yeah, it's pretty important to me." He managed to gush out in a single breath, his cheeks flushing slightly.

Michael rolled his eyes once more. "Maxie, you've out spazzed yourself."

Max ignored Michael, his eyes back over towards the school building as a group of students trudged out onto the field. Michael and Rei followed his gaze, only for Max to curse under his breath.

"For the love of all that is holy," Max gushed, "Of course The Demolition Boys would get gym together. Look at Tala Ivanov's gym clothes."

At first, Rei wasn't sure where to look, but spotted a red haired male that could be the only person Max was referring to. He wore slim, tight fitting white shorts, and an orange tank top, that on anyone else would have looked horrible, but for some reason, whether it was his body, his complexion, or just the way he held himself, for some reason on Tala, it looked fabulous.

"Are pants that tight even allowed?" Rei found himself asking aloud.

"I don't know, Karate," Michael answered, a hint of vehemence to his voice. "But I do know that Tala Ivanov is one of the dumbest guys you will ever meet." He jerked his thumb in the direction of Max, momentarily distracting Rei from staring at Tala. "Max sat next to him in English last year."

Max nodded his head enthusiastically. "He asked me how to spell _orange_."

Rei nodded his head, believing them because he had no reason not too. He turned his attention back to Tala, watching him stretch his arms lazily – glamorously- above his head, before turning to talk to a tall blonde haired male.

"That's Spencer Sergei," Michael explained, following Rei's gaze. "He's rich as shit because his dad is some sort of famous scientist." He gestured to a third boy, short with a large nose. "And that's Ian Papov."

Rei nodded his head again, slightly surprised to Michael stand up suddenly, Max following suit. No other choice but to be abandoned, Rei picked up his bag, and shouldered it, before following the two other boys back to the school.

"Why do you hate them?" he asked, and Michael gave him a slightly confused look.

"What do you mean?" He asked, quirking his head to the side.

"You seem to really hate them," Rei elaborated awkwardly.

"Yes," Michael said, nodding, slightly confused, "What's your question?"

"Did they do something to offend you?" Rei asked, equally as confused.

"They're Russian pricks," Michael shrugged. "There's nothing they do that doesn't offend me."

Rei blinked in confusion, trying to decipher if Michael hated all Russian's, or just Russian "pricks". Michael pulled a folded piece of paper out of his short pockets, handing it over to Rei.

"You're going to want that," Michael explained, and Rei unfolded it, briefly wondering when on Earth Michael had had time to sketch it out. "It's a map of the school. Most importantly, the cafeteria. It tells you where everyone sits. The Preps, the Jocks, the Nerdy Asians, the Cool Asians," Michael said, his voice trailing off, as he pointed to the paper. "Art kids. Drama kids. The Demolition Boys." Here was drawn a skull and crossbones. "And the coolest people you'll ever meet." Micheal pointed to a table on the far side of the cafeteria. "You can sit there."

"Thanks Michael," Rei beamed happily, "Really, I mean it."

Michael shrugged. "What are friends for?"

If possible, Rei beamed even brighter. Friends. One hour into the school day, and he already had two friends. Nothing could stop him now.

- - -

As happy as he was to be with Michael or Max, Rei couldn't contain his excitement at finally arriving to his Calculus class. Here was something he'd always be able to understand, something that was consistent. There was only one right answer, in math, no matter where you came from.

Mr. Granger was his teacher once more, and had greeted Rei with a friendly 'hello' as he had entered. They'd done seating charts right off the bat, Mr. Granger making it up as he went along. So far, Rei didn't mind. The kid next to him was attempting to sleep discreetly, but was snoring softly.

"Do you have a pencil I can borrow?" The male in front of Rei asked, turning around to face the Neko-Jin.

Rei froze. Brilliant red eyes, slate gray bangs, and blue triangle tattoos on his face. His stomach started quenching, much the same way it had done earlier that morning before school started. Dear god, it was love at first sight. Rei's been in love before, so he knows the feeling, but nothing could compare to this. Just the intensity that the older male looked at him, quirking an eyebrow at his mute ways.

Blushing slightly, Rei pushed his pencil into the other male's hands, reaching into his bag for a new one.

"Thanks," he said.

"Mr. Hiwatari, Kai?, please turn around," Mr. Granger said, "And someone please wake Enrique up."

An orange haired girl with round glasses on obeyed, nudging Enrique gently, and Rei heard Kai mutter something about idiots as he turned to face the front and continue taking notes. His voice was perfect. His eyes were perfect, his amused smile was perfect. Everything about Kai Hiwatari was perfect, and Rei knew, without a shadow of a doubt in his mind, he was in love with this boy.

Hell, the fact that Kai was a boy didn't even bother him. He was okay with who he was. Besides, weirder things had happened to him. Like moving halfway across the world on his Mother's whim. Rei leaned forward, resting his chin on his palm. He could just catch a whiff of Kai's shampoo. Oh god...

"Rei, what do you have?" Mr. Granger asked, snapping Rei out of his reverie, as the entire class turned to glance at him once more.

"Oh, um, a sub n is equal to n plus one over four," Rei said, flushing slightly and sitting back in seat.

"That's right," Mr. Granger grinned. "Good. Very good, Rei."

The corner of Kai's lip twitched up into a smile, and Rei looked down at his paper, fighting his blush. When he glanced back up, Kai was still smiling at him.  


* * *

TBC


	3. Chapter Three

Title: **_Bossy Effeminate Teenage-Boys_**

Author: MGO

Character(s)/Pairing(s): Rei Kon, Kai Hiwatari, Tala Ivanov, Spencer, Ian, Max Tate, Michael/Rei x Kai, Tala x Kai

Warnings: Slash, Language, AU, OOC – well - characters, Un-Beta'd

Spoilers: _Mean Girls_

Word Count: Approx. 30,578 (this part, approx. 1,381)

Rants: Guh. I almost forgot to update this morning. I did _not_ want to get out of bed, but if I didn't update it now then you guys wouldn't be able to read it until tomorrow... Huzzah. MGO can be nice on occasion! Not that this happens often...

What to say about the chapter itself? Tala finally comes in! Yay, Tala! (Next to Michael, Tala is my favourite. And then Johnny. Haha. I have a thing for redheads, I guess. Emily is on the list too, but do we count her as a redhead, or a ginger? Hm...)

Any way, enjoy. Read and Review, folks.

Summary: Rei's just moved from China, and on a whim Michael and Max convince him to hang out with Tala Ivanov – the school's biggest prick, and leader of the Demolition Boys. Somehow though, somewhere along the way, Rei isn't just observing them – he's one of them. To make matters worse, he's in love with Kai Hiwatari, Tala's ex-boyfriend.

Disclaimer: I don't own Beyblade, Mean Girls, IHOP or Bro-Rape. All are property of they're proper and respectful owners, and I only intended to get a few laughs out of them while I could. No suing me, s'il vous plait.

* * *

Still floating on the aftermath of Kai smiling at him, Rei entered the cafeteria, looking around with a lazy smile. Michael had explained the basics to him, but he still wasn't quite sure what he was supposed to be doing. So, following the lead of some other students, he grabbed a red tray, and stood behind some students he vaguely recognized roaming the halls.

"Hey," A large green haired male greeted Rei, causing the Neko-Jin to blink in surprise. "We're doing a survey of new students. Care to answer a few questions?"

Seeing no reason as to why not, Rei shrugged. "Okay."

"Is your muffin buttered?" He asked, his tone serious as he wiggled a pencil lightly.

Rei smiled in polite confusion. He didn't have a muffin. "What?" He asked.

"Would you like us to personally assign someone to butter your muffin?" The male continued, and the tall African American beside him snorted loudly.

"Do what?" Rei asked, frowning now. He was missing something here, and it was making him look really bad.

"Is he bothering you?" A third voice asked, startling Rei. Tala Ivanov. Tala Ivanov, the most popular kid in school was talking to him. "Steven, why are you such a prat?" He asked, annoyed.

Ian and Spencer were standing beside him, glaring as well.

"I'm being friendly to a new student," Steven defended himself, scowling.

"Dude," Spencer said, folding his arms, "You were supposed to call me back last night."

Tala let out an angry tut-tut. "Steven," He said darkly, "You do not come to a party at my house and hang out with Spencer, leave him hanging, and then scam some innocent boy in front of us two days later. Whatever it is, he's not interested." Tala turned to Rei, his ice blue eyes narrowed. "Do you want to have sex with him?"

"Oh, god, no," Rei said, flushing brightly, almost dropping his lunch tray.

"See? Goodbye, Steven," Tala said, ending the conversation.

"Dude, call me," Spencer said, and Steven nodded, before walking away, with lack of a better retort to throw at Tala.

"Thank you," Rei said, managing a nervous smile.

Tala shrugged. "It's no big deal." He paused, glancing at Rei more closely. "You're new, aren't you?"

Rei nodded his head. Was it that obvious?

"You can have lunch with us, today," Tala said, smiling.

"Oh, but-" He glanced around the cafeteria to see Michael and Max staring at him with wide eyes. "Erm, okay." He said, looking at Tala again. He'd explain it to Michael and Max later.

"Get your lunch, we'll see you again in a few minutes," Tala said, patting Rei's shoulder lightly.

Tala left to head to a different lunch line to get his lunch, Spencer and Ian following him respectfully. Rei just stared in confusion, wondering what on Earth had just happened to him.

"Chicken or beef?" A large woman asked Rei, snapping him out of his thoughts, as he glanced down at the taco salads being served for lunch.

"Oh, beef please," He said, smiling and accepting his food, putting some fries on his tray, and a strawberry milk.

He paid for his lunch, then glanced around the cafeteria to see where Tala and The Demolition Boy's had gone off to. The redhead was surprisingly easy to spot, despite the crowd of the cafeteria, and Rei nervously approached the table, sitting down opposite Tala, and next to Spencer at the rectangular table.

The first few minutes after being greeted with a warm smile was spent with Tala discussing something with Spencer heatedly, before the redhead turned all his attention to Rei, asking him questions about him rapid fire. Rei didn't have time to think, barely answer, before Tala had asked him a new question.

"So I only got into country yesterday morning, but I slept all day, so my grandparents thought it was okay if I started today," Rei explained, and Tala nodded in understanding.

Pointing at Rei's forehead, he asked, "Where'd you get that headband? I love it."

Rei brought a hand up to touch his headband, a smile on his face. "My friends back home gave it to me before I left." he said, remembering happily.

"That's so fetch," Spencer said.

"What is 'fetch'?" Tala asked disdainfully, looking at Ian.

"It's slang from England," Spencer said, shrugging.

Tala simply rolled his eyes, and Rei was starting to get the feeling Tala was like this a lot.

"So, if you're from China," Ian said, glancing at Rei, "Why do you speak English?"

"Oh em gee, Ian," Tala said, scowling. "You can't go around asking people why they speak English."

Ian shrugged, and Rei was about to respond when Tala held up a finger.

"One second, Rei, we need to discuss something," the redhead said, and the three leaned together in a huddle, talking in hushed whispers.

Rei turned around to glance over at Max and Michael helplessly. Max shrugged, not offering any consolation, and Rei couldn't figure out how Michael felt about all of this.

"Okay," Tala said, brining Rei's attention back to the table, and he smiled with mild confused interest. Tala smiled back at him. "Let me just say we don't do this a lot, so you should know this is, like, a really big deal." Rei blinked in confusion, wondering what he was getting himself into. "We want you to have lunch with us everyday for the rest of the week."

"Oh, okay..." Rei said, letting his voice trail off. Max and Michael would understand, wouldn't they?

"Great," Ian said, beaming, "So we'll see you tomorrow."

"Only, we can only wear head accessories one day a week," Spencer said, then frowned. "And I guess today was your day."

Rei's hand fluttered up to touch his headband. He couldn't wear it? But, his friends gave it to him. Surely that was a good enough excuse?

"And on Tuesday's we wear long sleeve shirts with vests," Ian finished, holding up a finger. "So don't forget."

- - -

Michael was doubled over in laughter, leaning against a sink for support in the Boy's Bathroom. Max was on the floor, with his back against the wall, laughing hysterically as well. Rei, just smiled in confusion, and waited for them to get over their fits and regain _some_ self control.

"Oh my god, Rei, you have to do it!" Michael said, wiping tears from his eyes, and adjusting his baseball cap, "And then you have to tell us all of the horrible things they say."

Rei faltered, adjusting his bag on his shoulder. "I dunno, I think Tala seems nice."

A dark expression crossed over Michael's face, "Tala Ivanov is not nice! He is the most Russian prick of all of the Demolition Boys!"

Rei took a step back, holding his hands up in defeat in case Michael decided to get violent with him. He seemed like the type.

"He's fabulous," Max said wistfully, "But Evil personified."

"What would we even talk about?" Rei asked, not quite ready to give in.

"Expensive cars," Michael shrugged.

"The fact one hundred and ninety children are kidnapped in China daily?" Max offered.

"Just do it!" Michael interjected, "Please?"

With a heavy sigh, Rei hung his head. "Okay, I'll do it." Both Max and Michael cheered loudly, giving each other the high five. "Wait, do either of you have a vest?"

"No," Michael said, quirking an eyebrow.

"Yes," Max replied, grinning from ear to ear again.

- - -

Rei let out a happy sigh the moment his new home was in sight. His grandparents were both sitting on the porch, sipping tea and discussing something Rei couldn't quite hear from where he was at the time. By the time he'd made it up to the porch, they both stopped talking, and smiled at him warmly.

'How was your first day?' his grandfather asked.

'Fine,' Rei replied.

"Were the people nice?" His grandmother asked.

Rei hesitated. "No."

His grandparents shared a look.

"Did you make any friends?" his grandmother asked.

"Yeah," Rei said, smiling at the thought of Michael and Max. "I'm going to go do my homework."

His grandmother nodded, and Rei stepped into the house. His grandparents shared another look, not quite sure what Rei had meant, but he had seemed happy enough, so they decided not to press it.

TBC


	4. Chapter Four

Title: **_Bossy Effeminate Teenage-Boys_**

Author: MGO

Character(s)/Pairing(s): Rei Kon, Kai Hiwatari, Tala Ivanov, Spencer, Ian, Max Tate, Michael/Rei x Kai, Tala x Kai

Warnings: Slash, Language, AU, OOC – well - characters, Un-Beta'd

Spoilers: _Mean Girls_

Word Count: Approx. 30,578 (this part, approx. 1,739)

Rants: So it occured to, that since I'm almost done with school for the year (last day is next Thursday! w00t!) that my updates will no longer be Monday/Friday mornings. They'll be Monday/Friday afternoons. I apologize if that even matters to anyone. On the other hand, this damn piece of fiction has me itching to write something else Beyblade related now. Which is bad because I've got like eight days of finals, so I'm studying the entire time. Ugh. I'll try to keep up with the updates though. The only thing left for me to do with this, really, is self-BETA it, and, well, I'm not so good at grammer and all that jazz.

Here's the update!

Summary: Rei's just moved from China, and on a whim Michael and Max convince him to hang out with Tala Ivanov – the school's biggest prick, and leader of the Demolition Boys. Somehow though, somewhere along the way, Rei isn't just observing them – he's one of them. To make matters worse, he's in love with Kai Hiwatari, Tala's ex-boyfriend.

Disclaimer: I don't own Beyblade, Mean Girls, IHOP or Bro-Rape. All are property of they're proper and respectful owners, and I only intended to get a few laughs out of them while I could. No suing me, s'il vous plait.

* * *

Rei sat quietly munching on a carrot stick, listening to Spencer and Ian explain the rules. He had thought just moving from China to the United States would bring a weird enough set of rules, but having been accepted by Tala and the Demolition Boys, he had a whole new set of rules to obey. Popular Rules. And Rei wasn't sure if he could do it.

As it was, he was sitting in a pair of jeans, a long sleeved black shirt, and a orange vest with a bright red star on the back that he'd borrowed from Max this morning.

_So far, so good, right? _Rei thought.

"We only wear jeans or track pants on Fridays," Spencer explained, and Rei nodded his understanding, glancing down at the jeans he was wearing. Thankfully, none of the other boys commented on it. "You can't wear a tank top two days in a row. You remembered you can't wear your headband more than once a week, so go you."

Rei nodded his head. He remembered. He didn't like it, but he remembered. It had been surprisingly hard to leave his headband laying on his desk, and he couldn't almost swear he heard his friends' cries of betrayal as he did so.

"And if you break any of these rules," Ian said, picking up where Spencer left off, "you can't sit with us at lunch. I mean, not just you, any of us. Like, if I was wearing jeans today, I would be sitting over there with the Art Freaks." Rei hesitated, glancing at the jeans he was wearing. "It's okay, we forgot to tell you yesterday." Ian said in what Rei assumed was supposed to be a consoling tone.

Loud laughter echoed across the cafeteria, and the Demolition Boys plus Rei turn to glance over at Michael and Max, with some other kids Rei didn't recognize have a competition about how many Popsicles they can stick in their mouth. Rei smiled in amusement, but Spencer tut-tut'ed again, so Rei forced himself to stop. He could have been having _fun_ at lunch today!

"We always vote before we ask someone to eat lunch with us, because you have to be considerate of the rest of the group," Spencer said, pausing in munching on a corn dog. "I mean, you wouldn't buy a pair of sneakers without asking your friends if they were efficient."

"I wouldn't?" Rei asked, and Spencer nodded his head gravely.

"Right, it's the same with girls or, ah, guys," Ian said, giving Rei a strange look. "You might think you like someone, but you can be wrong."

Spencer leaned forward on his elbows, "So, have you seen anyone like like yet?" He asked with a grin on his face.

Rei blushed slightly at the thought of the practically mentioned Kai Hiwatari. "Actually, yeah. There's this guy in my Calculus class-" Rei paused, blushing even harder. "Never mind, it's stupid."

Ian leaned forward as well now, curious. "Who is it?" He asked.

"Is it a senior?" Spencer asked, and Rei nodded his head.

"His name is Kai Hiwatari-" Rei started, but Spencer but him off with a loud 'no!'.

"No, no, no, no, _no_," Ian agreed, shaking his head.

"You can't like Kai Hiwatari," Spencer said gravely, "He's Tala's ex-boyfriend."

"They went out for a year," Ian said, in just as serious a tone.

"Then they broke up for no reason," Spencer sighed dramatically.

"Because Tala cheated on him," Ian finished.

Rei opened his mouth to point out that it was probably because Tala cheated that Kai broke up with him, but Spencer cut him off. At least he knew Kai was gay now. That definitely counted for something.

"Regardless," Spencer said, waving a hand to dismiss the subject, "ex-boyfriends are off limits to friends. Don't worry. We'll _never_ tell Tala about what you said."

As if on cue, Tala approached, plopping down at the table with cheese fries and a diet coke.

"Hey," Rei greeted, and Tala smiled back.

"Hey, guys," he said, pausing to offer his diet coke towards Spencer, who popped the cap for him. "Thanks."

Rei let the three other males start discussing their plans for later that day, allowing the new information he had gathered to sink in. He was going to have to go shopping later and buy some khakis, so not to break the jean rule. But most importantly, Kai. Kai was gay. Rei, when and if he ever stops pretending to be friends with Tala, could possibly stand a chance with him.

Rei was ready to die happy.

- - -

Just because he wasn't allowed to go out with Kai, didn't meant he couldn't look, right? There was nothing wrong with that, and he wasn't breaking any rules. Looking had to be enough, because Rei was afraid to get in trouble with Tala. More so than actually incurring Tala's wrath, Rei didn't want Michael or Max to be disappointed with him.

As if feeling Rei's eyes boring into the back of his head, Kai turned to him, and wrinkled his nose, tapping the test before him lightly with his pencil. Rei fighting back a flush, nodded his head, making a face as well. Kai smirked, turning his attention back to his test, and continued to work at it.

Rei glanced at his own, having finished it almost twenty minutes ago. It wasn't that hard, for him, but then again, math had always come easy to him. He smiled faintly, letting thoughts of Kai roam his mind.

The bell rang loudly, startling all the students with cries of outrage. Not everyone had finished.

"Relax," Mr. Granger said, "We'll have ten minutes to finish them tomorrow." He said, holding his hand out. "But now, turn them in."

"You get it finished?" Rei asked Kai bravely, startling the senior slightly.

"What? Oh, no," Kai replied, handing him a pencil. "Thanks. I keep forgetting. Did you?"

Rei clutched the paper to his chest, accepting his pencil back, slipping it into his pocket. "N-no. But there's some time tomorrow."

Kai nodded his head, and walked towards the front, turned in his paper and left. Rei watched him for a moment, his heart fluttering. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a small baggy slip and fall out of Enrique's pocket as he stood up and scuttled off in a hurry. Rei grabbed it walked to the front to turn in his paper.

"Hey, Rei, I think you're the only one who finished it," Mr. Granger said, smiling.

Rei flushed at the praise, shrugging. "It's not so hard."

"Hey, Kon," the orange haired girl with round glasses said, and Rei turned to look at her.

"Hey, ah, Emily?" He said, and she nodded her head. "What's up?"

"I'm captain of The BBA Mathletes," Emily explained to Rei, who just smiled with mild confusion. "We participate in math challenges against other high schools around the state. I saw how easy this test was for you. You should really think about joining."

"You'd be perfect for it, Rei," Mr. Granger said, nodding his head in agreement.

"Yeah, definitely," Rei said, nodding his head as well.

"Here, let me give you my number," Emily said, pulling out a piece of paper and scribbling it down quickly before handing it to him. "Think about it," she said again.

And Rei nodded his head again. "I will." He promised. "Mr. Granger, Enrique dropped his medicine," Rei said, handing over the small baggy he had picked up moments before. He'd almost completely forgotten about it. "I have a question, though-"

Mr. Granger accepted the bag, and narrowed his eyes while he looked at it. "Hold that thought, Rei," He said, holding up a finger. He left the classroom, following Enrique. Too curious to let this slide, Rei snuck out as well, glancing around, and spotting them talking softly on the flight of stairs. Rei slumped down, listening to what they were saying.

"Enrique, you can not function at school on ecstasy," Mr. Granger said softly.

Enrique licked his lips, nibbling at the cover of his Calculus book which he had held up like a shield, a ward against his teacher. "It's not mine. I found them. I didn't take them." He said, not meeting his teacher's gaze.

"Enrique," Mr. Granger said in a warning tone, "I used to work the night shift at a club. I'm really good at telling when people are high." He let these words sink in, and Enrique pulled the text book away from his mouth. "If you come to my class high again, I will know."

Enrique flashed a lopsided grin at Mr. Granger, and reached out to touch his arm lightly. "Shhh... don't be scared." he said in a stage whisper.

"Ew, Enrique," Mr. Granger said, gently pushing the blonde student's hand away, "Please stop touching me."

Enrique had the sense to look guilty. "Are you gonna -" he licked his lips nervously, "turn me in to -to the _dean_?" He asked.

"Enrique," Mr. Granger sighed, shaking his head. "I don't want you to get kicked out of school. I want to see you _graduate_."

Rei let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding. He'd never thought Enrique of all people would be doing drugs. The blonde had always seemed nice enough, even if he was rather goofy and full of himself. But, the former was probably because of the drugs, Rei reasoned.

He continued to listen as Mr. Granger and Enrique made a deal: If Enrique didn't come to school high anymore, he wouldn't tell the deans. Rei had to sneak upstairs quickly so the math teacher didn't know he'd overheard, and he watched Mr. Granger chuck the baggy into a trash can. He took a few steps, then thought better of it, and pulled them back out. Rei snuck down the stairs again in time to see Mr. Granger lock them in a desk drawer.

Rei watched in silence for a moment, as Mr. Granger rooted through his cabinets looking for something. Pause. A moment later he was dialing a number on his phone, and then a soft, "Hi, I'm Mr. Granger, Enrique's Calculus teacher," before deciding it was safe enough to sneak downstairs.

If Mr. Granger had remembered Rei wanted to ask him something, Rei didn't stay to find out. Rei didn't even remember what he had wanted to ask.

TBC


	5. Chapter Five

Title: **_Bossy Effeminate Teenage-Boys_**

Author: MGO

Character(s)/Pairing(s): Rei Kon, Kai Hiwatari, Tala Ivanov, Spencer, Ian, Max Tate, Michael/Rei x Kai, Tala x Kai

Warnings: Slash, Language, AU, OOC – well - characters, Un-Beta'd

Spoilers: _Mean Girls_

Word Count: Approx. 30,578 (this part, approx. 2,498)

Rants: First off, I must say I don't promote underage drinking. However, in the same breath, it's none of my damn buisness and they actually did drink in this scene in the script/book. (They had virgin martinis in the movie, I think.) Next, since I got so few reviews for the last chapter I debated updating this until after school and give myself some more time this morning, but damn I'm a hound for consistancy. I had to update it this morning, or I'd go bonkers all day at school. I'm too nice, really. Lavish in it.

I realized how much I liked Ian recently. Must people blow him off, 'cause he's kind of ugly, but, he amuses me greatly. Enjoy the update!

Summary: Rei's just moved from China, and on a whim Michael and Max convince him to hang out with Tala Ivanov – the school's biggest prick, and leader of the Demolition Boys. Somehow though, somewhere along the way, Rei isn't just observing them – he's one of them. To make matters worse, he's in love with Kai Hiwatari, Tala's ex-boyfriend.

Disclaimer: I don't own Beyblade, Mean Girls, IHOP or Bro-Rape. All are property of they're proper and respectful owners, and I only intended to get a few laughs out of them while I could. No suing me, s'il vous plait.

* * *

"So, how was your first week?" Tala asked.

They were sitting in Tala's car (BMW 3 Series, the redhead had told him braggingly), Tala driving, with Rei in the front seat, Ian and Spencer in the back. Tala had invited them all back to his place, and after calling his grandparents, and seeing nothing else wrong with this plan, Rei had come along eagerly.

"Good," Rei said, shrugging slightly. "I'm thinking about joining the Mathletes."

"No, no, _no_," Tala said, a little shocked. "You can't do that. It's social suicide. Damn, you are lucky to have us to guide you."

Spencer blinked, "Hey look, it's Steven."

The four males blinked, glancing over at the sidewalk to see Steven walking with the African American Rei vaguely recognized from his first day.

"Dude, he blows me off to hang with _Eddy_," Spencer continued, Rei vaguely recognizing a hint of depression in his tone.

"Steven is not blowing you off to hang with Eddy," Tala said darkly, "No. Hand me your phone."

"You can't call him!" Spencer argued.

Ian handed Tala his own cellphone.

Tala paused to dial information, then held the phone to his ear. "Anderson on Caesium Boulevard, please." he said.

"Caller ID," Spencer pointed out.

Tala rolled his eyes. "Not if I call through information." He pushed a button on his phone, then gestured for everyone to be quiet as he started driving again. "Hi, may I speak to Eddy Anderson, please?" he asked in a very posh voice. "He's not home? This is Yuriy from The Free Clinic. I have his test results back, if you could have him give me a call? Today, if he can. It's urgent. Thanks." (1)

Tala hung up, smirking, and chucked the phone over his shoulder, Ian caught it, before bursting into hysterical laughter with Spencer. Rei, glanced back over his shoulder to see Eddy pause and answer his phone before they went over a hill.

"They're not going to hang out tonight," Tala said, glancing back at the road.

Rei laughed weakly, a little ashamed of doing so. Eddy was probably going to be in serious trouble for this, and yet the Demolition Boys thought it was funny. It was horrible. He kept his mouth shut the rest of the way to Tala's house, a large, beautiful building.

"Tala," Rei said, awed at the size of it. His entire village could have lived here. "Your house is _really_ nice."

"I know, right?" Tala said smugly, parking.

The four got out, and Tala led the way to the building, Ian telling him a joke at his shoulder. Spencer put a hand on Rei's shoulder, halting him.

"It's only fair, to warn you," He said, glancing back up at the house, "be careful of Tala's dog."

Rei gulped, glancing at the house. If Spencer was warning him, there had to be something deranged with the dog.

Tala opened the door, stepping inside. "I'm home," he called. "Wolborg?"

A great flash of white fur, and Rei was pinned to the floor, a large snarling beast on top of him. There was no way _that_ was a dog! He let out a strangled cry, and tried to push it off of him, but he couldn't get any grip, and the beast probably weighed more than he did.

"Wolborg, heel," Tala said, in a bored tone.

Wolborg let Rei go and pranced over to Tala, nuzzling his side affectionately. Shakily, Rei stood, keeping a wary eye on Wolborg. The beast's shoulders came up to Tala's hip, and the redhead could probably have rode him if he had really wanted too.

Pausing briefly to rummage through some cabinets, Tala pulled out an unmarked bottle. He pat Wolborg upside the head clumsily, and tried not to trip over the great white beast as he lead the way to his bedroom.

"Come on," He said, pushing open a set of double doors to reveal a bedroom as large as Rei's grandparents house. A large fourposter bed took up most of the space, and an extensive entertainment center stood across from it. The carpet was plush, and three of the walls were covered in posters and pictures, the forth hosting the largest mirror Rei had ever seen. Two doors were barely visible beneath post cards and pictures of friends, and Rei assumed they led to a bathroom and closet.

"Wow," Rei managed to say, stepping into the room, and tentatively set down on an overstuffed couch.

Tala glanced from Rei, back to the room. "My parents is bigger. They wouldn't trade me." He said darkly, and Rei blanched. How could a bedroom be even bigger than _this?_

Tala popped the top off of the bottle he'd stolen from downstairs, and took a swig, before handing it off to Spencer. Spencer took a swig as well, followed by Ian. The short male passed the bottle to Rei who nervously took a sip. The liquid burned his throat, and he struggled to swallow it and not spit it back up on Tala's carpet. He got the feeling he wouldn't be forgiven for that.

Tala snickered. "Don't drink Vodka, do you?"

"I don't really drink," Rei answered honestly, making a face and passing the bottle back off to Ian, who shrugged and took another sip.

"You poor thing," Tala said, walking over and patting him upside the head gently. He watched Rei for a moment, contemplating him, before turning to the mirrored wall, and standing in front of it. "Ugh." He said after a moment, "I hate my complexion."

"I hate my eyebrows," Ian said, glancing into the mirror as well, frowning.

"At least you two are a relatively normal height," Spencer complained, "It's so hard buying jeans in my size."

Ian offered a consoling sound, before Tala turned to Rei, quirking en eyebrow.

Rei, confused, glanced into the mirror, eying himself. He liked how he looked. "Sometimes, in the mornings, I have really bad morning breath?" He offered.

"Ew," Tala said, with a laugh.

The redhead crossed the room, snatching the vodka bottle from Spencer, and sat across from Rei on the couch, eying him carefully as he took a sip. "You know, you're actually really good looking."

"Oh, uh, thank you," Rei said, frowning in confusion. Tala offered him the bottle again, but he shook his head.

"So you agree?" Tala asked, quirking an eyebrow.

"What?" Rei asked, blinking in confusion.

"You think you're really good looking," Tala said, and Rei wasn't quite sure what the look Tala was giving him meant.

"I didn't say that," Rei countered, frowning.

"The way I see it," Spencer said, interrupting them, "Is that your either, ugly, pretty, or average. You and me, Rei, we're average."

"Oh," Rei said, nodding his head, not quite sure what had just happened, or what he had agreed to.

Outside the bedroom door there was a desperate whine, and clawing on the wood.

Tala glanced over, "Hey, who closed the door?" He asked, standing and opening the door. Wolborg nuzzled Tala happily, before leaping onto the bed and sprawling out. Tala watched his dog for a moment, and went back to sit on the couch across from Rei, taking another sip of the vodka.

"Oh my god," Ian said, grinning ear to ear. He was kneeling by one of Tala's bookshelves, holding up a scrapbook. "I can't believe you still have this."

"What is it?" Rei asked, curious now.

"It's our Burn Book," Ian said, sitting down cross legged and opening it up. "We cut out pictures from the yearbook and wrote comments about them."

"Oh?" Rei said, frowning slightly.

"It's just a joke," Tala said, waving his hand dismissively.

"'Hilary Tatibana is a bitchy little slut'," Ian read aloud.

"Still true," Tala said, smirking.

"'Oliver Polanski is an anorexic virgin'," Ian continued.

"Still half true," Tala replied. "Here, let me see that."

Ian stood, and passed the book to Tala, who gestured for Rei to scoot closer, and moved the bottle of vodka so they wouldn't accidentally spill it.

"Look," Tala said, pointing, "That's Tyson Granger. 'Made out with a hot dog'."

Tala was bitting back laughter and Rei forced himself to smile, feigning amusement. Tala continued flipping pages, reading some of them aloud to the amusement of the others. Rei recognized a few of the people, but his hand flew out to stop Tala from turning away from a picture of Michael and Max.

"Hey, I sit next to them in homeroom," He said, cocking his head to the side. _Michael – Did steroids_. There was nothing about Max, thankfully. "This is so mean," Rei said, frowning. He pointed to a picture of Max. "But That's Max. He's almost too spazzy to function."

Tala let out a sound that sounded like laughter. "Give me a pen, I'll write it in here."

Rei opened his mouth to say something, but hushed himself, biting his tongue. _Crap_, he thought. _That was probably only okay when Michael says it._

"You should write something in it," Spencer said, handing a pen to Tala for him to dictate what had been said.

"Yeah, do one," Ian agreed, leaning over the edge of the couch.

"No," Rei said firmly, shaking his head.

Tala's icy blue eyes narrowed and fixed onto him. "Why, because you're so nice, and we're so evil?"

"No- that's not it," Rei said, but, yeah, it kind of was.

"No one will ever see this," Spencer said.

Tala waved the pen in front of Rei. This was a test to see if he was worthy or not to hang out with them. Thinking it over quietly in his head, Rei flipped a couple of pages before spotting a picture with Mr. Granger in the background, writing at his desk.

"Er," Rei said, looking at the book. "Give me the pen."

With a grin, Tala handed it over, and Rei pulled the cap off. He hesitated for a moment, before drawing a thought bubble leading from Mr. Granger's head, and wrote '_I keep drugs in me desk_' inside of it.

Tala quirked an eyebrow, surprised. "Really?" He asked.

And Rei shrugged. "Yeah."

Tala, Spencer and Ian all laughed, clapping him on the back. Rei forced a smile, but felt the bile rising in the back of his throat. Had he really just said that about one of his teachers? Sure, they claimed no one would see this, but Murphy's Law, right? Anything that can go wrong will. Rei _really_ hoped it wouldn't apply in this situation.

- - -

"Do they have malls where you came from in China?" Max asked, holding Rae's elbow as he dragged him through the busy crowd.

"No, not really," Rei said, a little overwhelmed by the large crowds and a number of stores. "It was a small town. But every now and then a caravan would come through with spices and stuff from the big cities."

"Cool," Max said, laughing. "This is a first for you then?"

Rei nodded. "Yeah."

"Welcome, my friend, to the mall," Max said, holding his arms above his head, gesturing towards the rest of the large building.

They were by a large fountain, where people from school and who knows where else were sitting and playing around. Adults drinking cappuccinos, boys wrestling each other, trying to push the others into the water, girls applying makeup, two people making out heavily, will crazy amounts of groping.

"Why are we here again?" Rei asked weakly.

"Michael works here," Max explained, leading Rei through the large halls. "In the sports store."

"Oh," Rei said dumbly.

A few minutes later, he was standing in front of Michael, who was sitting on the register counter, tossing his baseball up and down, telling them all that he had done yesterday at Tala's house. Max was wandering around the store, a happy grin plastered on his face.

"So besides trying to get you drunk," Michael said, "What else did they do?"

"They've got this Burn Book," Rei explained, brushing his bangs from his face. "They write means things about people who go to our school in it."

Michael quirked an eyebrow at this, and stopped tossing his baseball for a minute. "What's it say about me?" He asked.

"It - " Rei started, but shook his head, "You're not in it."

"Those pricks," Michael spat, narrowing his eyes in distaste. He glanced back at Rei, "You have to steal that book, Karate."

"It's Rei," Rei corrected automatically, "And no."

"We could publish it and show the world what an intolerable ass he really is!" Michael argued, "Come on, Karate!"

"Rei. No way," Rei said, shaking his head aggressively. "I don't steal."

"There's two kinds of evil people, Karate," Michael said.

"_Rei_."

Michael ignored him, and continued. "People who do evil stuff, and people who see evil stuff being done and don't do anything to stop it. If you can get that close to Tala Ivanov, you have a _responsibility_ to mess with him."

"Unh-unh," Rei said, shaking his head angrily. "I'll observe, but that's it."

"Fine," Michael snorted in annoyance, hopping off of the counter. "Call me when you grow some balls."

"Fine," Rei huffed, "I will."

The boys glared at each other for a moment, before Max popped out of a corner, tugging at Rei's sleeve. "Psst! Mr. Granger is here!" He said, pointing over to where their homeroom teacher was indeed looking at baseball bats.

"God," Michael said, temporarily forgetting his anger at Rei, "I love seeing teachers outside of school. It's like seeing dogs walk on their hind legs."

The three males stared at Mr. Granger for a moment before he felt their eyes boring into the back of his neck. He turned to them and smiled. He grabbed the bat he was looking at before walking over to them.

"Hey guys, think this can crack a skull?" He asked, hefting it up on his shoulder like an expert.

"Uh," Michael started, glancing at his companions nervously, "Probably."

"Relax, Michael, I'm messing with you," Mr. Granger said, and they all let out relieved laughter. "Hey, Rei, I hope you join the Mathletes. We start in October, and it would be great to have you on the team. We might actually win."

"I think I'm going to do it," Rei said, nodding his head.

"You can't join the Mathletes," Max interrupted, aghast, "It's social suicide!"

Mr. Granger stared at Max for a moment, who had the sense to blush brightly. "Well, okay. Good. This had been sufficiently awkward, so I'll buy this baseball bat for my nephew, and I'll see you guys Monday. Max, tell your mom I said 'hi'."

"Alright," Max said, nodding his head.

The three males waited for Mr. Granger to leave with his purchase before they began to talk again.

"Max is right, though," Michael said, glancing at Rei. "You can't join Mathletes. It's social suicide."

"Okay, okay, I get it," Rei said, sighing, and holding his hands up in defeat. "I won't join the Mathletes."

* * *

(1) - As was kindly pointed out in one of the reviews for this fic, I realized that, um, yeah. I should have clarified this a little better. No, I'm not impling Eddy is pregnant. This isn't_ that_ kind of story. (No offense meant.) What I had meant was, you can go to a Free Clinic for all sorts of tests. In this case, I was implying an STD check of some sort. Probably the claps. Ha. No. Sorry.

TBC


	6. Chapter Six

Title: **_Bossy Effeminate Teenage-Boys_**

Author: MGO

Character(s)/Pairing(s): Rei Kon, Kai Hiwatari, Tala Ivanov, Spencer, Ian, Max Tate, Michael/Rei x Kai, Tala x Kai

Warnings: Slash, Language, AU, OOC – well - characters, Un-Beta'd

Spoilers: _Mean Girls_

Word Count: Approx. 30,578 (this part, approx. 2,465)

Rants: First off, I added a slight note to the end of Chapter Five, for anyone who cares. Also, this one's got some nasty language in it. I apologoize ahead of time. I'm just a very vulgar person IRL, and I slip up. I've cleaned it up, but it's still ridiculously full of the 'F' word. Ha. My B.

Uh, so, my Interweb was down this morning, which is why I didn't update. I don't think anyone really cares though. Le sigh. Carry on.

Summary: Rei's just moved from China, and on a whim Michael and Max convince him to hang out with Tala Ivanov – the school's biggest prick, and leader of the Demolition Boys. Somehow though, somewhere along the way, Rei isn't just observing them – he's one of them. To make matters worse, he's in love with Kai Hiwatari, Tala's ex-boyfriend.

Disclaimer: I don't own Beyblade, Mean Girls, IHOP or Bro-Rape. All are property of they're proper and respectful owners, and I only intended to get a few laughs out of them while I could. No suing me, s'il vous plait.

* * *

Rei glanced up from his Calculus homework as the cellphone his grandparents had bought him started to ring. He picked it up, glancing at the caller ID. Why on Earth would Tala call him this late into the night?

"Hello?" He greeted, putting his pencil down, and leaned back in his seat.

"_I hear you like Kai Hiwatari_." Tala said over the phone.

Rei almost toppled backwards off of his seat, terrified. Who had told? Was Tala going to be mad, and not talk to him anymore? Michael and Max would be so disappointed in him...

"What are you talking about?" Rei asked, swallowing nervously.

"_Spencer told me that you like Kai_," Tala explained. "_I mean, I don't care. Do whatever you want. But let me tell you something about Kai Hiwatari. All he cares about is school, and his pet bird, and his friends_."

Rei blinked in confusion. "Is that bad?" He found himself asking.

Tala ignored him. "_But if you like him, that's fine. I could, like, talk to him for you if you want_."

Excitement coursed through Rei, and he couldn't hide it in his voice. "Really? You would do that? I mean, nothing embarrassing, right?" He gushed, his cheeks flushing brightly.

"_Trust me_," Tala scoffed. "_I know exactly how to play it. But wait. Aren't you so mad that Spencer told me about this_?"

Rei blinked in confusion, but it didn't last as long as the excitement did. "No," he said honestly.

"_You can tell me if you are_," Tala replied. "_It was a bitchy thing to do_."

"Yeah, I guess it was pretty bitchy," Rei admitted, "But I'm not mad. He's just immature."

"_See, Spencer_?" Tala said tauntingly into the phone, "_I told you Rei wouldn't be mad at you_."

"_I can't believe you think I'm immature_!" Spencer spat into the phone, his anger evident.

"_Alright, see you guys tomorrow_," Tala said sweetly.

The line disconnected, and Rei stared at the light blue phone for a moment in amazement. He wasn't sure whether to be happy Tala said he'd talk to Kai for him, or pissed that Tala had set him up for Spencer to be mad at him. He'd apologize to Spencer tomorrow, and hope for the best.

Besides, if Tala really did talk to Kai... Well, the best could only happen.

- - -

Calculus had quickly become Rei's favorite forty-five minutes of the day. Tala hadn't spoken to Kai yet, but he claimed to be waiting for the right time because he didn't want to scare Kai off of Rei. Rei didn't mind though because he and Kai were starting to talk to each other more and more often.

On October 3rd, Kai asked Rei what day it was, and smiled at him.

On October 17th, Kai looked past Rei outside of a window. Rei followed his gaze, and Kai stated in an annoyed voice that it was raining. Rei nodded his head, smiling at him shyly.

On October 19th, Rei had enough of waiting for Tala to make a move, so decided to do so himself. He tapped Kai's shoulder softly, and smiled shyly once more when the senior turned to glance at him.

"I'm totally lost," Rei said, "Can you understand any of this?"

But Rei wasn't lost. He knew exactly what Mr. Granger was talking about. He'd read this chapter almost a week ago, and could do the work with his eyes closed. Still, he needed an excuse to talk to Kai, so, he would have to lie.

"It's a factorial," Kai explained, "so you multiply each one by 'n'."

Rei's eye twitched, but luckily Kai didn't notice. He was wrong.

"Is that the 'summation'?" He asked, cocking his head to the side to glance at Kai's paper better.

"Yeah, they're the same thing," Kai said, nodding his head.

Wrong. Kai was so wrong. Rei smiled brilliantly.

"Thanks, I think I get it now," he said, and Kai nodded his head.

"Any time," the senior said, smiling as he turned back to face the front of the class.

Rei was ecstatic. His plan worked! Kai had talked to him, and smiled at him. He was so close Rei could smell the fabric softener from his clothes, and a whiff of citrus that had to be his shampoo. Rei fought back the blush on his cheeks, one hand resting over his heart feeling the frantic beating, almost positive Kai could hear it.

A week and a half later, on October 31st, Kai leaned back in his seat, and paused, his head almost resting on Rei's text book. He blinked slowly, and Rei blushed, staring into Kai's deep red eyes.

"Hey," Kai said, sitting up, and turning in his seat to face Rei. He pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket and handed it over. "We're having a Halloween party at my friend Bryan's house, tonight. You should stop by. It's a costume party, and some people get pretty into it."

Shocked into silence, Rei simply nodded his head. Kai smiled brilliantly at him.

"Gr-ool," He said, then winced, and Kai laughed at him. "Sorry. I meant to say great, but then I said cool..." His voice trailed off.

"Right," Kai said, still chuckling. "Well, grool. See you tonight."

The bell rang, and Kai grabbed his bag, standing up. He was about to leave the classroom, but paused at the door. Rei felt Kai watching him, so glanced up from packing his own bag.

"By the way," Kai said, "That only admits one person, so don't come with anybody else."

"Hey, Rei," Mr. Granger said, after Kai left the room, "You plan on staying for Mathletes?"

"Please say you will," Emily urged.

"Oh, um, yeah," Rei nodded, "I'm just going to go put some stuff in my locker first."

"Alright," Mr. Granger said, smiling proudly.

Rei's stomach clenched into a knot, but he forced himself to smile and leave the room. He felt really bad about lying to Mr. Granger, but he had to go home and find something he could wear as a costume to the Halloween Party that night.

- - -

If Rei had known he was going to be making plans for Halloween, he probably would have asked his grandmother for some money to buy a costume for, but as it was, he hadn't and it was too late now. So he sat on his bed, phone pressed to his ear with Max on the other side, looking into his closet at the few clothes he did have.

"_You sure you don't want to come over and hang out with me and Michael_?" Max asked, sounding a little put out.

"I have to go, Maxie," Rei said, shaking his head even though Max couldn't see him. "Kai Hiwatari asked me to the party. _Kai Hiwatari_."

"_I know, I know_," Max replied, "_but if you change your mind, we're going to be at Michael's place. Grab a pen, you're going to want to write the address down. 2698 Aluminum Lane. We'll be in the basement, so just come right in. Don't bother knocking._"

"Now that I think about, Max," Rei said, jotting down the house address for future use, "What's with all the streets being named after the Elements on the Periodic Table?"

"_This city was once a town founded by scientists_?" Max offered, "_but, huh. I've never noticed that before_."

Rei laughed lightly. "Well, I've got to start getting ready, so I'll call you later."

"_Alright_," Max said, "_Have fun Rei. Don't do anything Michael or I wouldn't_."

"I won't," Rei promised, though he wasn't quite sure as to what counted as to something Max or Michael _wouldn't _do.

Having nothing else to wear, Rei rummaged through his closet until he found the clothes he had worn on his first day of school. The clothes he used to wear all the time when he lived in China, that just didn't fit in here in the United States. And, figuring that since he hadn't worn it at all recently, Rei dug the headband Mariah and Lee and Gary had given him before he left China. He felt bad for having forgotten about it and them, but to be fair he'd had a lot on his mind.

- - -

Rei arrived at the party half an hour later, having opted to walk just in case his grandparents would change their minds. It was a warm night still, so it hadn't been much of a big deal. Bryan only lived a couple of blocks away from him, anyways, at 5893 Cobalt lane.

Having promised to be back by ten (tomorrow _was_ a school day) Rei had set out on the walk, smiling as he passed small children trick or treating in adorable outfits. This Halloween thing was new to him, but he regretted never having lived in the country before. Who could really say no to free candy?

Rei spotted some of the Asian girls from school, the same ones from his first day, and said "hi" to them, before continuing up the steps into the house.

Almost immediately, he regretted this. A large crowd of guys was standing around two girls in lingerie and animal ears making out on the stairs, pausing only to grope or take another swig of alcohol. Stepping away from them carefully, he backed into the living room. From his spot in the doorway he could see into the kitchen perfectly.

Tala, dressed out in an impossibly tight leather outfit, was talking to Kai, who with his back to Rei, was resting his chin on the curved end of a hockey stick using it as a balance and prop. Tala's icy blue eyes met Rei's for a moment, and a thin smile crossed over his face.

Tala pulled himself up onto the counter to sit, leaning forward dangerously. Kai turned his head to see him, smiled and waved. Rei almost fainted. Kai acknowledged him. He really had wanted him to come to this party.

Rei, not being able to actually hear what Tala and Kai were talking about was torn between going over and talking to them, or waiting for a moment. He didn't want to seem too desperate, but at the same time... Kai Hiwatari looked so fucking sexy in a wife beater and baggy jeans.

"Hey, Rei," Spencer said, snapping the Neko-Jin out of his thoughts.

"Oh, hey, Spencer," Rei said, smiling nervously. He couldn't tell what Spencer was supposed to be, but, whatever. "What's up?"

Spencer shrugged. "Tala finally talking to Kai for you?" He asked, nodding in the direction of the kitchen.

"I hope so," Rei said, flushing slightly. "Where's Ian?"

Spencer shrugged again. "He said something about finding something better then Bud Light to drink."

"Vodka?" Rei asked, wrinkling his nose.

"That would be my guess," Spencer nodded. "Tala's making an alcoholic out of him."

"Poor Ian," Rei said, and Spencer nodded again.

"Oh, Rei, don't look," Spencer said suddenly, grabbing Rei's shoulders and turning him so he didn't face the kitchen anymore.

"Wha-?" Rei asked, glancing over his shoulder.

Rei's heart sank. Kai, was standing between Tala's legs, hands on the redheads thighs, kissing him.

"Damn it, Rei, I told you not to look," Spencer said apologetically, still holding Rei's shoulders.

Rei shook his head. "It's- It's fine." He managed to choke out. "Hey, I promised I'd stop by another friend's house. Tell Ian I said 'hi'."

"You sure?" Spencer asked, letting go of Rei.

Rei nodded, "I'll see you later, man."

Spencer let Rei go, watching the Neko-Jin walk back through the house and across the yard and away. Rei wasn't even sure where he was going. He'd never been to Michael's house before, and he barely knew the street names, but he picked a direction and stumbled off in it.

He wouldn't cry. This wasn't a big deal. Kai was obviously not interested in him. He preferred Tala. Everyone preferred Tala. That fucking slut! Rei choked back a sob as he ran through the streets, only stopping when he spotted the correct street sign.

As per Max's directions, he headed through the back fence, and through the basement door. He didn't bother knocking, and when he opened the door and stood there, he startled Max into shrieking, and latching onto Michael.

"Holy fuck, Max," Michael choked, pushing the blonde off of him, before turning glance at Rei. "What's up, man?"

"I grew some balls, Michael," Rei said as bravely as he could muster. Max stood, and sensing Rei's distress, pulled the Neko-Jin into a hug. Rei's knees gave out beneath him, and he fell to the floor, Max helping slow the fall as they sat together, Rei clinging to Max as if for dear life. "He took him back." He sobbed out, "Tala took Kai back."

Michael's expression darkened. "We can fix this, Karate."

Rei wiped tears from his eyes, and looked up at Michael hopefully. "Really?" He asked weakly.

"Follow me," he said, offering Rei his hand and pulling him to his feet.

After turning off the TV, Michael led the other two across the basement, and gestured for them to sit on the bed that was down there. Reaching into a cupboard, he pulled out a bag of plastic magnet letters and numbers. After adjusting his baseball cap, and clearing his throat, he began.

"Tala Ivanov,"Michael started, "Is an Evil Dictator. How do you overthrow a dictator? You cut off their resources." Rei opened his mouth to ask a question, but Michael shushed him. "Tala Ivanov would be nothing without his technically 'hot body', older boyfriend, provocative clothing, and ignorant band of loyal followers."

Michael was pressing the letters and numbers he'd recovered from the cabinet against a fridge. When he finished, he stepped away for the other two to read what he wrote. 1 - HOT BODY; 2 – OLDER BOYFRIEND; 3 – SKANK CLOTHES; and finally, 4 – ARMY OF WHOR3S.

"Why is there a three in the word whores?" Max asked, cuddling one of Michael's pillows against his body.

"Because I ran out of 'e's," Michael replied, "Now shut up." He turned his attention back to Rei. "Karate, if this is going to work, you're gonna have to keep hanging out with them as if nothings wrong."

"I can't!" Rei whined, wiping his eyes again, just in case he decided to start crying once more.

Max pulled Rei onto his lap, the Neko-Jin's head resting against the pillow that was there before him. "You're going to have to, Rei." He said. "You grew some balls, so it's time to put them to good use."

Michael nodded, and Rei swallowed, and pressed the balls of his hands into his eyes. After a moment of silence, he muttered, "Fine. I'll do it."

* * *

TBC


	7. Chapter Seven

**Standard Disclaimer Applies**

Word Count: Approx. 30,578 (this part, approx. 1,505)

Rants: First, a little reformatting. Don't like it? You can suck it.

Sorry I didn't update this morning. Being my first day of Summer Break I decided to sleep in before 'heading over to the Picnic my friends and I throw each year. Ha. I had fun. Not that this matters.

But what to say about this part? Meh. Not much. It's one of the shorter parts, so I do apologize. Part Eight isn't much better. Heh. Part Eight is the halfway part, though! That means this is almost over! Huzzah.

(Is anyone still reading this? D:)

* * *

At lunch the next day, Rei sat with Tala and The Demotion Boys and Kai. The redhead's hands were all over the senior, touching his hair, his hands, his face, despite the fact Kai was trying to eat lunch, but if he minded, he didn't say anything to Tala about it.

Rei couldn't watch this, but Michael and Max were right. If he wanted to take Tala down, he'd have to play along. He played with his lunch with no appetite, keeping his eyes anywhere but on Tala and Kai. If Spencer and Ian were just as bothered with Tala's behavior, neither one of them would say anything.

"Rei, tall Kai he'd look sexier with his hair pushed back," Tala said tauntingly, pushing the senior's hair back from his face.

Rei's hands clenched into fists under the table, but he smiled weakly while looking at Tala and Kai. "You'd look much sexier with your hair pushed back."

Kai rolled his eyes, and finally pushed Tala's hands away from his face. Rei wondered if he knew why Tala was doing this, why Tala had taken him back. He refused to believe Kai was in on it. Kai was too nice to willingly hurt Rei like he was.

God, Rei hated Tala.

- - -

"So," Ian said, catching Rei's elbow before he could storm away to his next class after lunch, "Tala wanted me to tell you that he was trying to hook you up with Kai, but he was just interested in getting Tala back, and that's not really Tala's fault."

Rei forced a smile, "No, I know."

"So, you're not mad?" Ian asked, frowning slightly.

"Oh my God, no," Rei said, laughing.

"Good," Ian said, then shifted awkwardly, "Tala told me to give you this."

"What?" Rei asked, expecting something physical, not a hug.

It was brief, barely a second, and Ian looked disgusted with himself for having to do it. "I'll see you later, Rei."

"Right, bye," Rei said, feeling slightly violated.

- - -

Rei leaned over his desk, tapping Kai on the shoulder. Startled, Kai turned back to glance at him.

"I don't get this," Rei said, smiling awkwardly, gesturing at his homework.

Kai opened his mouth to reply, but Mr. Granger interrupted them, handing back their pop quizzes.

"Very nice, Rei," Mr. Granger said.

Rei flushed slightly, wanting to crumple the paper up. Across the top was a red '98' in large print. Rei glances at Kai's, where a similar '77' is at the top. Kai scowled at his grade, then glanced at Rei's paper.

"It kinda seems like you get it," He said, surprised.

"Lucky guesses..." Rei said, melting backwards in his seat.

For the first time in his life, he wished he wasn't so good at math. If he was going to achieve this, to get Kai to talk to him, he had really better start committing to it. So, against his better judgment, for the next week's pop quiz, Rei would put down the wrong answers.

- - -

"Rei, you're killing me," Mr. Granger said, disappointed, as he handed the quizzes back.

Rei glances at his own. A '68'. He tries to peer over Kai's shoulder at his, and the senior gives him a weird look before showing him a '81'. Rei showed Kai his own, and Kai frowned sympathetically.

"Damn, Kon, what happened?" Emily asked, leaning across her own desk to see Rei's grade.

"I guess my luck's run out," Rei said, shrugging.

- - -

"Let me get this straight," Michael said, pausing in rooting through his locker for his English Text to look at Rei. "You're messing up your Calculus grade on purpose, so Hiwatari will talk to you?"

Rei shrugged. "What do I care what my grade is, as long as I pass?" He asked. "Learning isn't about grades, it's about knowledge. I have all the information I need right here." He tapped his forehead. "So what does it matter if I pretend not to know it on some test?"

"Right," Michael said, nodding his head. He paused, then shook it. "No. That's retarded."

"Michael is just jealous he can't afford to not do good on all his tests," Max said, patting Rei's arm lightly.

Michael made a face at Max. "Coming from the guy who failed freshman _gym_."

"Oh, shut up, you," Max huffed.

Rei smiled. He was so glad he knew these two, as crazy as they were most of the time.

- - -

The first real breakthrough in their plan to overthrow Tala Ivanov, didn't occur until almost another week later. The three boys were sitting in the kitchen of Rei's grandparent's house eating sandwiches, discussing potential ways to bring Tala to his knees, but not in the fun way.

"Maybe if he kidnap Kai-" Max started, then stopped mid sentence to stare up at a blue box on top of the fridge. The word Kälteen stood out in bright yellow letters. "Hey, Rei, what's a Kälteen bar?"

Rei followed Max's gaze, up towards the top of the fridge. "Oh, they're these weird Swedish nutrition bars that help you gain weight. My Ye-Ye's doctor has him eat them 'cause he's so tiny."

"Oh, weird," Max said, "but if we kidnap Kai-"

"Silence, Max," Michael ordered, turning to Rei with a wicked smirk on his face. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

Rei's eyebrows furrowed in confusion as he tried to comprehend, then a grin appeared on his face. "Oh, yeah."

- - -

"What's that?" Spencer asked, watching Rei pull a Kälteen bar from his bag and open it.

"What?" Rei asked, glancing at the bar. "Oh, it's a weird Swedish nutrition bar my grandmother eats to loose weight."

"Gimme that," Tala said, leaning across the table from where he was sitting on Kai's lap to snatch it away, eying it with mild interest.

"Go ahead," Rei shrugged, and Tala took a bite.

He contemplated it for a moment, before checking the wrapper. "It's all in Swedish."

"They're high protein," Rei said, shrugging.

"So, it's Atkins?" Tala asked, looking at it for another moment, before looking back at Rei.

"No, you have carbs for breakfast, the protein for-" Rei said, bullshitting his way though.

"Oh, so it's the Zone," Tala said, nodding his head.

"Except these have some weird ingredient in them that's not legal yet in the U.S.," Rei explained, "That's why the wrapper is in Swedish. It's kind of like-"

"Ephedrine?" Tala asked.

Rei quirked an eyebrow, then shook his head. "No."

"Phentermine?" Tala offered.

"Yeah, that's it," Rei said, nodding his head.

"I wanna lose three pounds," Tala thought aloud, glancing at the Kälteen bar carefully.

"Why?" Kai asked, disbelief etched onto his face.

"Oh my god," Spencer said, "Why? You're so skinny."

"Yeah," Ian conferred. "What on Earth are you talking about?"

Tala huffed, but bit into the bar anyways.

Kai rolled his eyes, throwing Rei a 'he's-being-ridiculous' look. Rei hid a smiled behind his coke, and Kai smiled back at him.

- - -

"Guys, thinking back on it," Rei started, standing with Max and Michael around Michael's locker, "Tala is going to figure this out, and fast. He weighs himself, like, every five minutes."

"Shit," Michael said, pausing in looting through his locker, this time in search of his baseball mitt.

"Wait, there's this trick I picked up from my friend Tyson Granger," Max said, excited. "You pop the top off the scale, and then you take some dental floss..."

- - -

Tala invited the Demolition Boys and Rei back to his place again, to Rei's relief. Wolborg still growled at him, but he was the least of Rei's worries at the moment. He ducked into Tala's bathroom as soon as Tala was distracted trying to find more vodka, hidden somewhere in his room.

After making sure he had definitely locked the door, Rei knelt next to the small white scale. Pulling a screwdriver out of his khaki pockets, Rei popped the back off of the scale, and carefully poked a hole in the cardboard dial with a safety pin. He paused, searching his jacket and pants pockets for the dental floss.

"Rei?" Tala asked, knocking on the door.

"One second," Rei called, the sweat prickling at the back of his neck. He threaded the dental floss through the hole, tying it off so that the floss would be taught when the scale read '112'.

"When you come out, I'm gonna pluck your eyebrows, okay?" Tala said, and instinctively Rei's hand flew up to feel his eyebrows. What was wrong with them? "And we're going to even out your bangs."

"Okay, cool," Rei called through the door.

"You'll be fetch," Spencer said mutely, and Rei assumed he was on the other side of the room.

Rei put the back of the scale back on, and stepped onto it. 112. Good. He looked around, and picked up a large potted plant, and stepped back onto the scale. Still 112. Grinning from ear to ear, Rei put the plant back, pocketed his tools, and stepped out of the bathroom.

"Let's do this," Rei said.

* * *

TBC


	8. Chapter Eight

**Standard Disclaimer Applies**

Word Count: Approx. 30,578 (this part, approx. 2,373)

Rants: Alrighty! This is one of the longer parts! This is also the official half way part! Seven Chapters before this, seven Chapters after this! So I want to thank everyone who has hung on this long! It means a lot, to see people reading and reviewing (hinthint).

Things about this chapter? I had forgotten I had put Enrique as a Senior in earlier chapters, so I had to rewrite a little bit of this. That meant picking another good looking character I hadn't already placed in a grade other than the tenth. Guh. I do love Enrique though. He's so cute. Not as cute as Max though.

Oh, and "Miyata" is the surname of the person who does Mystel's voice. I was too lazy to think of something more creative.

Anyways, on with the fic!

* * *

For the first time, Rei was walking down the hall with the rest of the Demolition Boys, not trailing behind after them, but with them, by their side. He was officially one of them now, and he was amazed He was pulling this off. He was going to bring Tala Ivanov to his knees.

But even more than that, to the amazement of everyone, Rei was popular. He _was_ a Demolition Boy, and people Rei didn't even _know_ knew stuff about _him_. Everyone knew he had moved in from a small town in China, that he lived with his grandparents, and people often asked how his cats Driger and Liger were.

Thankfully though, the two things that mattered the most though, were still a secret: The Anti-Tala Ivanov Campaign, and Rei's crush on Kai. Rei really was surprised about the latter, as Tala, Ian and Spencer all had the horrible habit of gossiping.

But right, now, that wasn't a problem. The sun was shining for Rei, and he planned on using this to his advantage.

- - -

"We have to crack Spencer," Michael muttered to the other two.

The three were standing in line in the student center, Rei just behind Max and Michael, pretending not to notice them. Now that he had been accepted into the Demolition Boys, he couldn't be seen with the other two in public. It was depressing, but essential.

"He's the keeper of all the secrets," Michael continued, looking out of the window. "If this gets Spencer to crack, we'll have cracked the lock on Tala's secrets."

"Say 'crack' again," Max said, beaming from ear to ear.

"Crack," Michael said, rolling his eyes. "Let's reconvene later tonight in my basement."

"I can't," Rei muttered, brushing his newly cut bangs from his face. "I have to go to Tala's to practice for the Talent Show. We're doing a dance to-"

"Jingle Bell Rock," Michael said in disgust, cutting him off. "I know. They do it every year."

"Sweet mother of God, Rei," Max said, turning to face him fully. "_You're_ doing Jingle Bell Rock?"

Rei opened his mouth to question that when he spotted Tala. "Uh, oh. Guys, scatter."

Michael and Max obey, leaving Rei alone to smile warmly at Tala as he approached.

Tala quirked an eyebrow in mild shock and disappointment. "Were you just talking to Michael Parker?" He asked.

Rei held his hands up in defeat. "Dude, he just walked up to me and started talking about crack. _Weird_."

"He's so pathetic," Tala said distastefully, shaking his head. "Let me tell you something about Michael Parker." He paused, holding a hand up to calm Rei before he said something shocking. "I was best friends with him in middle school." Rei's jaw dropped. "I know, right? It's so embarrassing, I don't even... whatever."

Why hadn't Michael mentioned this to him? Rei wondered. It could be important! But, it _did_ explain his hatred for the other male.

"Then, in eighth grade, I started going out with my first boyfriend, Brooklyn," Tala continued, enjoying the stunned silence he was getting from Rei, "He was totally gorgeous, but then he moved to like, Hawaii or something, and Michael was like, weirdly jealous of him. Like, if I blew him off to hang out with Brooklyn, he would be like, 'why didn't you call me back!?'. I was like, 'why are you so obsessed with me?'. So then my birthday party came up, and I was like, 'I can't invite you Michael, because I think you're on drugs.' I mean, I couldn't have a drug addict at my birthday party! My parents were going to be there. I mean, right? Then his mom called my mom and was like, yelling at her. It was all so retarded, and then in the fall when we started high school Michael was kicked off of the Baseball team, and he hung out with the gay kid, Max Tate and he's all weird, and I think he does steroids." Tala gushed, pausing to take a breath. "And apparently, crack."

Rei opened his mouth to reply, but Tala silenced him by looking over at a girl Rei vaguely recognized as Mariam from his World History class, wearing a plaid skirt.

"Oh, I love your skirt," Tala said, beaming with false cheerfulness. "Where'd you get it?"

Mariam smiled proudly. "It was my mom's in the 80's."

"Vintage!" Tala said, "It's so cute."

"Thanks," Mariam said, waving goodbye before heading towards her class.

"That is the ugliest fucking skirt I've ever seen," Tala said, a hint of annoyance to his voice, like it personally offended him.

Rei resisted the urge to touch the headband he's started wearing once again. Tala had been making fun of him on his first day of school, all those weeks ago.

"You sending any candy canes?" Rei asked, gesturing at the table before them.

Tala looked at Rei as if he was crazy. "I don't send them. I just get them." He started to leave, waving goodbye over his shoulder as the late bell rang. "You better send me one, by-otch."

Rei smiled, stepping to the front of the line. Oh, he was going to be sending her one all right. And by using just three candy canes, he was going to crack Spencer Sergei. "Three please," he said, and started to fill out a candy gram order slip.

- - -

"Okay," Rei's English teacher, Mr. Jazzman said, "Your homework tonight is to take a passage from Julius Caesar and translate it into modern day English. Starting with line 142. "Why man, doth he bestride the narrow world like a Colossus--"

Max bursts through the door, wearing a Santa hat and carrying a large green bag. "Ho ho ho!" He cheered, "Candy Cane Grams!"

"All right, hurry up," Mr. Jazzman said, leaning against his desk and waiting.

"Daichi Sumeragi?" Max asked, glancing around looking for the redhead to raise a hand. "One for you. One's all you need to find love though." He said, winking. "Three for Mystel. You go, Mystel Miyata!" Max beamed, glancing down at his list again. "And one for Rei Kon. We got a Rei Kon?"

"Here," Rei said, holding up his hand. Max tossed one towards him.

"One for you. And none for Spencer Sergei," Max said, ducking out of the room, laughing loudly as he did so.

Rei unfolded the piece of paper attached to his candy cane.

"Who's it from?" Spencer asked, leaning over to get a better look.

"'Thanks for being such a great friend, Love Tala'. Aw, that's so sweet of him," Rei said, beaming happily.

Spencer sank into his seat. Why had Rei gotten one from Tala when he hadn't, after they'd been friends for nearly two years?

- - -

"Welcome, everybody, to the ninth annual Boris Balcov Academy Winter Talent Show," Mrs. Tate greeted everyone, standing on the large stage in the auditorium.

Rei peeked around at her, through the curtains. The room was packed with students and family members, and Rei swallowed nervously. He knew the dance from heart, but still... There was an awful lot of people out there. If he messed up, he would be the laughing stock of everyone, _plus_ Tala would hate him.

"What, do you mean you got one, too?" Spencer asked Ian in a hushed voice, pausing in putting on his red jacket.

"It's just a candy cane," Ian frowned, "Maybe yours just got lost."

"Is he mad at me?" Spencer asked Ian, ignoring the last comment. "Has Tala said anything to you about me?"

"Nothing unusual," Ian replied.

"What do you mean?" Spencer frowned. "What's the 'usual' stuff she says?"

Ian shrugged. "I don't know. Just that you talk a lot..."

Rei walked over, patting Spencer on the back lightly. He was upset, and panicked. Rei could see that from a good few feet away. He thought Tala hated him now, and soon, he'd be spilling all of his secrets out to Rei. Hopefully.

"I'm going to go check up on Tala," he said, and the other two nodded.

He stepped into the bathroom, and Tala looked up at him. "You didn't really have to send me a candy cane, you know. I was just kidding."

"Oh," Rei said, shrugging. "Well, you've been so nice to me."

Tala let out an annoyed sound, struggling with the button on his shorts. "What the fuck?" Tala snarled.

"They don't fit?" Rei asked, frowning in confusion.

"They should fit," Tala continued, his rage clearly evident, "I only weigh 112."

"Here," Rei said, approaching Tala, his fingers brushing the redhead's away from the button. "Suck in your gut."

Tala glared at Rei, but after a brief struggle, Rei managed to get Tala's shorts buttoned.

"Whoa," Rei said, smiling. "Just be careful now. I'm not sure if they'll hold that well."

"This is ridiculous," Tala snapped, "I'm going to go find Kai. I'll see you in a few minutes."

"Don't take your shorts off, or I won't help you put them back on," Rei muttered, after Tala had left. Shaking his head, he went back to stand with Spencer and Ian, the latter who was watching the Talent Show while the former continued to rant.

"It just seems weird to me," Spencer said, looking at Rei in annoyance. "I mean, no offense-" Rei gritted his teeth, waiting for the forewarned offending statement. "-but why would he send you a candy cane? He doesn't even like you that much."

"Next up," Mrs. Tate said, "Jingle Bell Rock! With Tala Ivanov, Spencer Sergei, Ian Papov, a-nd, Rei Kon!"

"Right, Spencer," Tala said, walking with them before they got to their spots, watching as Rei went and put a boom box downstage of them. "You're going to be behind Rei."

"What?" Spencer asked, "But that puts me on the left!" He argued. "That's not what we practiced! I'm always on the right."

"Yeah, but now we have to do it differently," Tala snapped, "So shut up and listen."

Fuming, Spencer obeyed. Tala gave the thumbs up, and Rei hit the play button before scuttling to join them.

"Does it bother you that they still use your original choreography?" Max asked Michael, and the baseball player punched him, flushing slightly.

"Shut up and watch," Michael hissed, seething.

Max obeyed, and was glad he did. Spencer, not used to dancing on the right, stumbled, and kicked the boom box, and it started to skip. Rei slipped out of the dance line, Ian quickly covering for him, and went to fix it, but tripped, not used to wearing the platform boots Tala had lent him. He banged his knee, and the arm he used to brace himself knocked the boom box off the edge of the stage, successfully smashing it.

He sat up, staring into the audience. He glanced over at the rest of the Demolition boys who were glaring at him furiously. Coughing nervously, Rei stood up, dusting himself off and took a couple steps back towards his team.

"What a bright time, it's the right time-," he sang, starting to dance. Tala watched him in disbelief.

In the audience, Kai pitched in to save Rei. "-to rock the night away-"

Emily, Rei noticed, started singing as well, "-Jingle Bell time is a swell time-"

Pretty soon, the rest of the large room was singing in unison, a deep mumble. "-to go riding in a one-horse sleigh. Giddyap Jingle-Horse pick up your feet. Jingle around the clock-" The audience, Rei noted, was pretty into it. So, following Rei's lead, the other three boys continued dancing. "-Mix and mingle with a jingle beat. That's the jingle bell, that's the jingle bell, that's the jingle bell rock!"

The audience cheered wildly, mostly from the fact that they themselves helped to save an act, and sounded terrific doing so. They slipped back off into the back stage, to wait out for the final few acts.

"That's the best it ever went!" Ian said happily, grinning from ear to ear.

Kai nodded his head. "That was outstanding." He wrapped an arm around Tala's waist, and then jokingly around Rei's shoulder.

"Hey, good job, Kon," Emily said, smiling at him.

"Thanks, Emily," Rei replied, blushing brightly at the contact between himself and Kai.

"Rei's blushing," Spencer said, grinning. "Oh my god. You totally have a crush on her!"

Rei turned an even brighter shade of red, as everyone turned to glance at him. Kai's expression of utmost disbelief.

"Shut up, Spencer!" Rei seethed, clutching Kai's arm tightly.

If Kai minded, he didn't say so, but he didn't laugh along with everyone else.

"That's why you wanted to join the Mathletes," Spencer said knowingly, grinning slyly.

"Mathletes?" Kai asked, blinking in confusion, looking down at Rei. "You hate math." Rei blushed even harder.

"Look how red you are!" Spencer cooed, "You love her! And she totally complimented you! That is so fetch!"

"Spencer, stop trying to make 'fetch' happen," Tala spat out bitterly, still annoyed about the dance, and more importantly, his shorts. "It's not going to happen! So just shut up already."

Spencer snarled at Tala's back as the redhead lead himself and his boyfriend away, his face bearing a surprisingly hateful expression. Rei and Ian both patted his shoulders consolingly, before they headed their own separate ways. Passing Michael, Rei flashed the baseball player a thumbs up, smirking. Everything was going according to plan.

- - -

"Why should Caesar get to stomp around like a giant while the rest of us try not to get smushed under his big feet?" Spencer spat out hatefully, reading his English assignment aloud, to the shock of the rest of the class, and Mr. Jazzman. "Brutus is just as cool a name as Caesar. Brutus is just as smart as Caesar. And when did it become okay for one person to be the boss of everybody? That's not what Rome is about. We should totally STAB CAESAR!"

Spencer sat back down in his seat with a loud thump, his face bright red. He was seething mad, and his paper was crumbled up in his hands. While completely terrified of this new Spencer, Rei couldn't help put cheer silently in his head. _Spencer had cracked_!

* * *

TBC


	9. Chapter Nine

**Standard Disclaimer Applies**

Word Count: Approx. 30,578 (this part, approx. 2,381)

Rants: So, I totally did not get out of bed until almost noon. Then I played Sims 2. That's why this wasn't updated. As for this part? Um, Rei and Kai's first kiss? Also, where I realized I really shouldn't write romance. At all. I'm too anti-gushy, lovey-dovey stuff to write Romance of any kind. So it's not a very Squee! Worthy scene. I do apologize.

Reviews inspire me to remember to update faster! :D See you guys on Memorial Day.

* * *

"Aw, come on Spencer," Rei said consolingly, rubbing his hand up and down Spencer's arm from where they were hiding in the boy's bathroom, Rei sitting on a sink, Spencer leaning to the one next to him.

"I mean, if you even _knew_ how mean he really is!" Spencer spat out, "You know I'm not allowed to wear the colour orange anymore?" He turned to Rei, on the verge of tears. "Two years ago, my parents bought me this _really _nice orange jacket for Christmas, but I had to pretend I didn't like it. It was so sad." He wiped his eyes, grunting in frustration.

"That's nothing we can't handle," Rei offered.

"That's not even the worst part of it!" Spencer snapped. "You know he's _still_ cheating on Kai? Every Thursday she hooks up with Byran Kuznetsov in the alcove behind the auditorium." Rei's eyes narrowed in frustration. That slut! "And I never told anybody, because I'm such a good friend!"

- - -

For nearly a month of Thursdays they tried everything in their power to get Kai into the Alcove behind the Auditorium to no avail. They tried every little thing they could think of, from posting signs that soccer practice had been moved there, to having Max steal Rei's bag with Kai chasing after him.

Something always went wrong though, and Tala and Bryan had plenty of time to escape.

"I think it's time we move onto the next step," Michael said one night, tossing his baseball between his hands, glancing at the kiddie magnets still on his fridge.

"I think you might be right," Max agreed.

"But Tala is cheating on Kai!" Rei cried out indignity. "Kai has a right to know!"

"We're trying to help him figure it out," Michael scoffed, "He's just too stupid."

Rei glared at Michael, but the baseball player simply rolled his eyes. "Next step?"

"The Kälteen bars look like they're kicking in," Max added hopefully, and Michael nodded his head. "Good."

Rei folded his arms, leaning against the wall glaring at nothing in general. He didn't want to move on. He wanted to help Kai. But, Max and Michael had a point. They'd just have to get back to that step.

- - -

Tala's legs were draped across Kai's lap as he ate a Kälteen bar. One of his hands moved up to play with Kai's hair, pausing when he reached Kai's ear, running a thumb over the piercing and Kai paused in doing his Calculus homework to give Tala a wary 'I'm-not-in-the-mood' look. Rei smirked triumphantly, taking a bite out of his spicy chicken sandwich.

"I don't think these things work," Tala said after a moment, tossing the rest of his Kälteen bar onto the table.

"What do you mean?" Rei asked, glancing up.

"I still weigh 112," Tala replied, scooting closer to Kai, to wrap his arms around him.

Rei clenched his hands into fists on his lap again, before answering. "That's because the protein builds muscle-"

"And muscle weighs more than fat," Spencer said, looking at Rei who nodded his head.

"Whatever, it's making me break out," Tala pouted, pressing his cheek against Kai's shoulder.

Kai glanced at Tala, brushing his lips against the redhead's forehead. "You look fine." He said.

Tala smiled, nuzzling Kai with his cheek. "I wuv you," he said adorably, and Kai replied with a soft, "hn."

"I'm going to go buy a coke," Rei said, standing up suddenly grabbing his bag. "See you in Calculus, Kai."

"Yeah, bye," Kai replied, returning his attention to the textbook spread out before him.

- - -

"Tala's not even really that good looking, if you really look at him," Rei said, standing in front of the mirror in his bedroom, brushing his hair. "Especially now that he's getting fat."

Michael, who'd been laying on Rei's bed, caught the baseball he'd thrown up at the ceiling and sat up. He put a hand on his stomach, and then glanced over at Rei. Both of them were still much thicker around the waist than Tala himself was, so Michael wasn't entirely sure what Rei was talking about Tala being fat.

"I don't know," Michael said after a moment, "His ass has gotten bigger."

Rei turned to look at Michael, sizing him up. After a moment, he shrugged. "If you're into that kind of thing."

"Ha ha," Michael snorted, "If you're just going to complain about Tala, than I think I'll go hang out with Max at his mom's place."

Rei was crushed. "I'm sorry. I'll stop." He must have really been driving Michael crazy if the baseball player would rather go hang out with Max at his mom's – the dean of the tenth grade, their dean's- house.

Michael shrugged, then pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket, handing it off to Rei. "Here. On the 28th I'm playing at a charity fund raiser. I get to pitch in the stupid little baseball game. Take a night off from your double life. I want you to be there."

Rei accepted the paper, grinning. "Okay, I'll be there."

- - -

"Hey, guys, sorry I'm late again," Mr. Granger said as he opened the door to the classroom. "Max, did you take attendance for me?"

Max nodded, and handed Mr. Granger an attendance slip. "Two absences, and Michael was late."

"Traitor," Michael snorted, attempting to trip Max as the blonde was on the way back to his seat.

"Thanks, Max," Mr. Granger said, going to his seat.

"_Today we are announcing the nominees for Spring Fling King and Queen,_" A voice over the loud speaker said. "_For Spring Fling King we have Tala Ivanov-_"

Michael rolled his eyes, and Max made a face, causing Rei to laugh silently.

"_-Johnny McGregor-_"

"How did he make it?" Michael asked, frowning.

Max shrugged. "I hear he's good in bed."

Michael and Rei gave Max a surprised look, and he just shrugged again.

"-_Spencer Sergei_-"

"I'm going to say 'Ew'," Michael said, shuddering a bit.

"Oh, don't be such a jerk," Max tut-tut'ed.

"_-Michael Parker-_"

"MAX!" Michael snapped, turning around and lashing at the blonde with full force.

"Knock it off, Michael," Mr. Granger warned.

"_-and Rei Kon_."

Rei paused, having been attempting to pry Michael's hands from around Max's neck.

"Max, you weren't supposed to put me in as well," Rei said, frowning. "This could ruin everything."

Max shook his head, no. "It wasn't me."

"You mean-?" Rei asked, confused at first, until realization sunk in. "They really voted for me?" He asked, smiling happily. He really was popular, and it _wasn't_ just because he hung out with Tala and the Demolition Boys.

Michael let go of Max, only to mirror Rei's face, to Max's amusement and Rei's embarrassment.

"God, I hate you," Rei said, flushing as he swiped at Michael.

- - -

Just because Rei wasn't getting 'A's' in Calculus anymore didn't mean he wasn't good at math. Week by week with his quizzes, he missed enough problems to seem horrible, but still be passing. He had to remember not to get the same score every week though, and not to have a pattern. The highest he'd allowed himself to score since he started dumbing himself down was a '73', to the disappointment of his grandparents.

"Alright, pass your quizzes forward," Mr. Granger said, standing up and moving about the classroom once more.

Sighing heavily, Rei passed his paper forward with everyone else's.

"How'd you do?" Kai asked, turning to glance at Rei.

Rei shrugged. "Not that great," he lied, rubbing his temples gently. "I think I'm going to have to get a tutor."

"I'll help you," Kai said, his red eyes meeting Rei's own amber ones, "If you ever want to get together after school, or something."

"Do you think Tala would mind?" Rei asked, cocking his head to the side.

"No, you guys are friends, right?" Kai said, then paused, thinking this over for a second. "Well, maybe we just won't tell him."

- - -

Rei was sitting on the bleachers outside of the school building, watching Kai play soccer with some other boys. He recognized Johnny McGregor, and Tyson Granger, neither of which Kai actually seemed to get along with that well. Glancing at his watch for the fifth time in three minutes, Rei sighed heavily. He couldn't wait for Soccer Practice to get over, so he could go home with Kai. And study.

"Hey, sorry, that took so long," Kai said, brushing his bangs from his face as he walked over to the bleachers.

"What?" Rei blinked, flushing slightly, "Oh, no. It's fine. I had time to catch up on my reading for English." he lied, grabbing his bag, hopping off of the bleachers.

"Come on, my car's this way," Kai said, smiling.

- - -

"Do you miss living in China?" Kai asked, as he unlocked the front door to his flat, gesturing for Rei to follow. The building wasn't what Rei had imagined at all. Kai was living by himself in a one room flat. It wasn't clean, but it wasn't messy either - it just looked lived in. A red bird sat chirping in the corner, in a large cage. "Hey, Dranzer," he said softly, going over to feed it, after dropping his bag onto a couch.

"I guess, I don't know," Rei said, shrugging, "I really miss my parents. And my friends. But I guess I never realized how small and lonely it was there."

Placing his bag next to Kai's, Rei walked over to look at the bird more carefully, standing behind Kai, one hand touching his elbow gently. Kai startled, before craning his neck to look at Rei better.

"She won't hurt you," He said, a hint of amusement in his voice.

"What kind of bird is she?" Rei asked.

"A macaw," Kai answered, "My mother bought Dranzer for me before she passed away."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Rei said, and Kai shrugged his shoulders.

"Don't worry about it," He said, brushing past Rei to go to the table. "Now, Calculus."

- - -

"What did you get for this one?" Rei asked, leaning towards Kai to get a better look at his paper. Oh god, he could smell the fabric softener he used, and his shampoo, and a hint of something else.

"Well, the first time I did it, I got zero..." Kai said, his voice trailing off. "But I checked it, and I got a one. I missed a negative sign."

"Oh, same here," Rei said, smiling flirtatiously, leaning even closer to Kai. Kai blinked in confusion, tensing up slightly. "You're far too nice..." He said, before he pressed his lips against the senior's.

They sat there, kissing for a moment, Kai trying to process what the hell was going on, Rei simply enjoying it. However the bliss was short lived, because Kai shoved him away.

"I can't do this," he said, standing up suddenly. "It's not fair to Tala. Come on, I'll take you home."

"Why do you like him?" Rei cried out, feeling spited.

"Listen," Kai snapped, "I know Tala can be really mean but--"

"Then why do you like him?" Rei repeated, standing up as well.

"Why do _you_?" Kai shot back.

"But--" Rei started, thrown off guard.

"He's just really insecure," Kai said, defending Tala. "I mean, there's good and bad in everybody. Tala's just more up front about it--"

"But-!" Rei paused, when Kai shushed him again. "NO! Kai, Tala's cheating on you with Brian Kuznetsov!"

Kai paled at the mention of his best friend's name along with his boyfriend's. "What?" He asked darkly, scaring Rei.

"They-they hook up every Thursday in the Alcove behind the Auditorium while you're at Soccer Practice!" Rei choked out, backing away from Kai.

"I really think it's time you leave," Kai muttered, shutting their math books and gathering Rei's stuff for him.

- - -

Tala was curled up on his bed, sobbing pathetically with Ian, Spencer and Rei surrounding him, consoling him, but none of them braved coming into more than a five foot radius of him, because of Wolborg, standing over him and snarling in a distressed rage.

"Did he say why?" Ian asked, shifting nervously from foot to foot.

Tala shook his head, then said. "Someone told him about Bryan Kuznetsov." He said, wiping away his tears in frustration.

"Who?" Spencer asked.

"He – he said it was some guy on the baseball team," Tala whimpered, nestling deeper into this mounds of pillows and blankets.

Out of the corner of his eye, Rei noticed Ian and Spencer share a relieved look.

"I gave him everything," Tala continued to whimper, "I was half a virgin when I met him!"

_Half a virgin_? Rei thought, but decided it was probably better not to ask.

"Want to do something fun?" Ian offered, "We can go to Taco Bell."

"I can't go to Taco Bell!" Tala shrieked at Ian, "I'm on a carb-protein diet! God, you're so stupid, Ian!"

Tala rolled out of his bed, and stormed out of the room, Wolborg following behind him faithfully. After a moment's hesitation, Spencer decided to follow as well.

"Tala, wait," He called, "Talk to me."

Rei watched the tall blonde leave, before glancing back over at Ian. Pity swelled in his heart, and Rei couldn't help but to comfort him. The smaller male had never showed much emotions before, but he looked on the verge of a mental breakdown now.

"You're not stupid, Ian," Rei said softly, walking over to him.

"No, I am actually," Ian muttered. "I'm failing almost everything."

Rei shook his head. "There must be something you're good at."

Ian smiled weakly. "I know a lot about guns." He said, glancing at Rei. "There isn't a gun out there I can't get a perfect marksmanship on."

Rei's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Wow. Not many people can say that."

Ian shook his head, "Nope. My dad was in the military. He taught me everything he knew."

"Cool," Rei said, "Hey, see, that's something!"

Ian flashed Rei a brilliant smile, and Rei smiled back.

- - -

"Sweet!" Max cheered, falling off of Michael's bed because he was laughing so hard.

Michael chuckled as well, swiping the magnets that spelled out 'OLDER BOYFRIEND' off of the fridge, and back into the bag. "Just when I was beginning to give up hope."

* * *

TBC


	10. Chapter Ten

**Standard Disclaimer Applies**

Word Count: Approx. 30,578 (this part, approx. 1,904)

Rants: Sorry I didn't update yesterday, like I had said I would. I went shopping. It was fun.

Here's the update:

* * *

Rei looked up when Kai entered class late without a pass, and collapsed in his seat. The senior didn't even bother to say 'hi' to him, and Rei felt a pang of annoyed spite in his heart. To be fair, Kai didn't look like he'd been talking to anybody though, and like he hadn't slept well in a few days, and Rei wondered whether it was more out of the fact he'd broken up with his boyfriend, or whether it was because his best friend had been sleeping with his boyfriend.

Still, he couldn't have needed that much time to move on. Tala and Bryan were walking through the halls, holding hands, "officially going out" now. Never having broken up with someone himself, or having someone break up with him before – never actually having gone out with someone- Rei was forced to admit he was clueless as to these things.

Michael and Max were no help, either, and just told him to "give Kai some time." But Rei didn't want to give Kai time, he wanted him _now_.

- - -

"Damn it," Rei heard Tala curse from inside the dressing room. "What the fuck?"

"What's wrong?" Spencer asked. He was leaning against the wall, just as bored as Rei was.

Ian had snuck off somewhere, and as he was always so quiet, the others hadn't noticed until after he had left. Rei had attempted to find Ian and keep him company, but Tala had snapped at him to leave would be to leave the Demolition Boys. He'd been in a pissy mood lately, and Rei was pretty sure it was because the fact he was somehow gaining weight while "not" gaining weight at all.

"Ugh," Tala complained, and after the rustling of clothes, stepped out of the dressing room with his track pants back on. "These jeans don't fit."

Spencer and Rei shared a look. "Maybe their one of those weird jeans that has weird sizes?" Spencer pitched.

"Don't be stupid, Spencer," Tala said, but glanced at the jeans, seriously considering it.

"Maybe you need a larger size?" Rei asked, and almost buckled under the rage filled glare Tala sent at him.

"I don't need a bigger size!" He hissed through clenched teeth.

- - -

"And he still bought them?" Max asked, cackling.

Rei nodded. "He's way too stubborn not too."

"He's still skinny as shit though," Michael noted, swiping 'SKANK CLOTHES' off of his fridge, and back into the bag of magnets.

"We're working on it,"Rei said, shaking his head. "Besides, he's gaining weight like crazy."

"And he hasn't figured it out yet!" Max laughed, punching the air with his fist.

- - -

"Spencer thinks you're mad at him because he's running for Spring Fling King," Rei said, laying on his bed on his cellphone, flipping through his Calculus book completely bored.

"_Oh my god_," Tala said, slightly exasperated. "_I'm not mad at him. I'm worried about him._"

"What do you mean?" Rei asked, pausing, his finger hovering over an equation.

"_I'm almost positive someone nominated him as a joke or something_," Tala replied. "_And when nobody votes for him, he's going to have a total meltdown. And who's going to have to take care of him_?" Here, his tone was annoyed. "_Me_."

"You don't think _anyone_ will vote for him?" Rei asked.

"_Rei, don't be ridiculous_," Tala laughed. "_He's not good looking at all. I mean, I know that sounds bad, but, whatever. The Spring Fling King is always good looking. The crazy thing is, it should be like, Zeo Zagart, but he's such a slut, everyone just kind of ignores him unless they want to get some. At least Ian wasn't nominated. How terrible would that be? Anyways, I gotta go. I'm going to bed_."

"Alright, bye," Rei said, and Tala hung up on him. Rei paused, somewhat awkwardly, before adding, "Well, at least he's not mad at you," into his phone. Silence. "Spencer?" Pulling his phone from his ear, he glanced at it warily.

Hopefully, Spencer wasn't too hurt by this, but it was all part of the plan. Sacrifices had to be made.

- - -

"YES!" Max cheered, "THREE DOWN, ONE TO GO!"

"Quiet, my parents are upstairs," Michael said through his own laughter, swiping 'ARMY OF WHOR3S' off of the fridge as well. "Not the order I thought it would happen in, but hey, who's complaining?"

Rei nodded. "No kidding," he laughed.

- - -

Rei watched Tala in amazement, as the redhead was scarfing down two baked potatoes, some fires, and a Kälteen bar. The fact he had gained weight now was obvious, and Rei would have guessed they were both about the same size. Spencer and Ian approached the table, putting their trays down carefully, sharing a look.

"Tala, we have to talk to you," Spencer said.

"Is butter a protein?" Tala asked, ignoring him.

Rei shrugged. "Sure."

"Tala, you're wearing sweatpants," Spencer continued, "It's Monday."

"So?" Tala asked, narrowing his icy blue eyes at Spencer.

"So, that's against the rules," Ian pitched in. "You can't sit with us."

"Whatever," Tala snorted, "Those rules aren't real."

"They were real that day I wore those jeans," Ian argued.

"Because those jeans looked disgusting," Tala huffed, glaring.

"You can't sit with us," Spencer said firmly.

Tala looked at his lap, and muttered quietly. "These sweatpants are all that fits me right now."

"YOU CAN'T SIT WITH US!" Ian shouted, slamming his fists onto the table.

Everyone around them in the cafeteria turned to look. Tala stood up without saying a thing, and stormed away. A stunned silence followed, before Ian spat some bitter words under his breath, sitting down. Spencer plopped down as well, and just picked at his meal.

- - -

Michael swiped 'HOT BODY' off of the fridge, and onto the floor with the other cheering around him.

"Here's to Tala Ivanov's defeat!" Max called, holding up a bottle of kiddie champagne.

"To a new era!" Rei agreed, holding up a plastic cup for Max to poor into it.

"Hoorah!" They cheered.

- - -

Rei paused while putting his English 10 Text in his locker, noticing Spencer and Ian starting up at him with wide eyes.

"Er, what's up guys?" Rei asked, confused and nervous.

"What are we doing this weekend?" Ian asked.

"Yeah," Spencer nodded, "What are we doing?"

Rei blinked in confusion. Spencer and Ian were asking _him_ what they were doing. They were asking - _Dear God_, Rei thought, _I've become the new leader of the Demolition Boys_.

"Er, well I'm supposed to go to this Martial Arts tournament with my grandparents this weekend," Rei said, and Ian and Spencer just stared at him. "We already have tickets..." They continued to stare. "But maybe I could try to get out of it..."

Spencer and Ian both cheered up.

"Cool," Ian said, grinning.

- - -

'So,' Rei said in Chinese, looking guiltily at his grandfather, 'I really, _really_ want to go, but I've just got _so_ much homework to do-'

'But you love Martial Arts,' His grandmother said, frowning.

'I know, but I have so much homework!' Rei repeated, shaking his head. 'I have a paper to write in English, and my Calculus grade is really low, and I can't afford to drop out this late into the year...'

His grandmother pulled him into a hug. 'Oh, Rei!'

'I'm so sorry,' He said, forcing himself to stare into the light, and tears to well up into his eyes.

His grandmother hugged him even tighter. 'It's fine, Rei.'

Rei's grandfather flashed him a look, and he wasn't sure whether the old man was going to fall for his lies or not, but after a tense moment, the old man nodded, and left the room.

- - -

The final bell rang for the day, startling Rei out of his stupor. He glanced up, and saw Kai had already left the classroom. _Shit_, he thought. Cramming his stuff into his bag quickly, he dashed into the hall, looking around through the crowd to find the Senior bluenette.

"KAI!" He called, and the senior stopped, turning to wait for him as he caught up.

"Hey," Kai said, his expression unreadable.

"Hey," Rei said, putting a hand to his chest to catch his breath, holding a finger up. "One sec. Okay. I'm having a small get together at my house tomorrow night."

"Is Tala going to be there?" Kai asked, narrowing his eyes.

"No," Rei snorted, throwing Kai a look as if to ask 'are you stupid?'. "Only _cool_ people can come. So, of course you're invited."

Kai paused, contemplating it. "Okay," he said, nodding. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Okay, bye," Rei said, watching Kai leave. He brought a hand to his chest, and felt his erratic heart beat.

Oh god. Kai had just agreed to come to his place. He had just asked Kai Hiwatari out, and Kai had said yes. This was, quite possibly, the greatest moment of his entire life.

"Oh, hey, Rei, you're still here," Mr. Granger said, stopping to glance at the Neko-Jin. "Here's your quiz back."

"Oh, thanks," Rei said, glancing down at the piece of paper. A red '71' was written across the top, along with a giant letter 'D'. "Hey! A '71' is a 'C', Mr. Granger!"

"These are graded on a curve," Mr. Granger replied, giving Rei an apologetic shrug.

"A what?" Rei asked, dumbfounded.

"A curve," Mr. Granger repeated, then sighed at Rei's lack of understanding. "Okay, so almost everybody got the extra credit right, and so the highest grade was a '105'. The average grade was an '89', therefore a 'C' would range from '78-88'. '71' is a 'D'."

"I don't-" Rei said, opening his mouth to continue, then closed it again. "I thought curves were supposed to help people!"

"Not in A.P. Classes," Mr. Granger replied, "But you know what's _really_ weird about your quizzes, Rei?" Rei shook his head, shocked into silence. "All of your _work_ is right. Only the _answers_ are wrong." Mr. Granger glanced in the direction Kai had left. "I hope he's worth it."

"What?" Rei asked after a moment, floundering like a fish out of water.

"Here, I'll need your parent's to sign this so they know you're failing," Mr. Granger said, handing Rei another piece of paper.

Rei accepted it without a glance. "Is – Is there anything I can do for extra credit?"

"Oh, Mr. Granger, you're still here!" Emily said, laughing as she approached, "I'd thought we had canceled for tonight."

- - -

"Hey, Karate," Michael called, startling Rei.

The Neko-Jin was sitting on the steps leading down from the math wing, staring dully at the paper he would have to get his grandparents to sign.

"Oh, hey, Michael," Rei said dully.

"Do you want to hitch a ride with me to the Charity game tomorrow?" The baseball player asked, standing behind him on the stairs, staring down at him.

"Oh, that," Rei muttered, "I can't go. I have to go with my grandparents to this Martial Arts thing. Sorry."

"Oh," Michael said, frowning. "Well, whatever. I guess it wasn't that big a deal to begin with." He nudged Rei affectionately with his foot, before continuing down the stairs. "See you later, then."

"Yeah, bye," Rei sighed.

Once Michael had disappeared completely, Rei sat up. He had just lied to his best friend. He had lied to his best friend without even thinking about it, and he _didn't feel guilty. _Rei wasn't sure how to feel about this.

TBC


	11. Chapter Eleven

**Standard Disclaimer Applies**

Word Count: Approx. 30,578 (this part, approx. 2,016)

Rants: So, it appears as the new posting time is around lunch time (as that's when I finally get out of bed). Not much else to say, so enjoy!

* * *

At 4.00h Rei's grandparents had left the house for their weekend long trip for the Martial Arts tournament. By 4.12h Spencer was dumping bags of Doritos into large bowls and placing them around the living room and kitchen, and Ian was opening a couple of bottles of vodka for the party.

Rei stepped back downstairs, wearing a tight leather outfit, something that wouldn't have looked out of place on Tala a few months ago, but on Rei, it didn't have just quite the same affect.

"Nice," Spencer said, smirking.

Rei took a deep breath, forcing a smile. Kai Hiwatari was going to be at his house. Everything had to be perfect. _He_ had to be perfect. He'd spent every penny he could find on this outfit, including sneaking some money from his grandmother's Rainy Day fund. He'd pay her back before she noticed, though, so it wasn't a big deal.

"I bought enough cheese and crackers for eight people," Rei said, brushing his bangs behind his ears nervously, "do you think that will be enough?"

Spencer and Ian shared a look, barely containing their laughter.

"Oh yeah," Spencer said. "That'll be plenty."

Rei was too nervous to notice the ill concealed sarcasm, and nodded his head before glancing at his reflection in the antique mirror hanging across from the stairs. He paused to smooth out his hair, and press the wrinkles from his top. The doorbell rang, and the three teenagers lit up with excitement.

- - -

Turns out, that it wasn't enough. Word had gotten out about Rei's small get together, and now, an hour later the entire house and lawn was packed with people – some of whom Rei didn't even know. He squeezed through the hallway to greet Spencer and Ian, both who were lounging on the stairs drinking a clear liquid Rei could only guess at.

Spencer was glaring at Steven across the hall. "That ass is here with Eddy. You know, he never did call me back. I've got the new Madden game and _everything_."

"Maybe because you only play Game Cube with your pants off?" Ian asked, but his smirk dissipated under Spencer's glare. "He's just using Eddy to get you mad."

The doorbell rang again, and Rei went over and opened it, surprised to see four guys, one he vaguely recognized as Enrique from his Calculus class. "Erm, hey. Do I even-" Rei started, but was pushed aside as they entered, pulling cans of beer out from bags, "-know you?" Rei finished lamely.

With a sigh, Rei headed back into the kitchen, almost tripping. He was wearing the platform boots he'd borrowed from Tala, that the redhead had given him, and he still couldn't walk that well in them. They were dead sexy though, so he _had_ to wear them, even if they would be the death of him.

On the counter was a half full, abandoned plastic cup, so Rei picked it up. He hesitated in dumping in down the sink, before deciding to down it in one gulp. He almost choked. Vodka! He was going to have to kill Ian for this. He told the Russian not to bring any alcohol, but he'd been too busy worrying about himself to pay attention to what the other two were actually doing...

Speaking of the other two, Rei stepped into the living room to see two people making out on his grandfather's armchair, and a spilled cup of something that no one had bothered to clean up. Sighing, Rei knelt to take care of it, then moved on, spotting Spencer get into a drunken wrestling match with Steven in the main hall.

Loud laughter echoed in the living room once more, and Rei entered to see some guys tossing his grandparents Buddha statue around like a basketball.

"Put that down!" He shouted, startling the players. He lunged, and managed to catch it before it shattered on the ground.

Biting back bitter tears, he scuttled into the kitchen to hide it under the sink, hiding his face. His party was going so wrong, so horribly _wrong_. Kai had decided not to show up after all. He had been stood up by Kai Hiwatari. He choked back a sob, wiping tears from his eyes.

"Hey, Rei," Emily said, snapping Rei out of his self-pitying wallow. "Your friend came to talk to me."

"Oh no," Rei moaned, hanging his hand as he stood up, closing the cabinets.

"I'm flattered, really, and I don't want to hurt your feelings," She continued, pushing her glasses up her nose. "But I only date other athletes. I play tennis, you know."

"Oh," Rei said, shaking his head, "It's fine." He pointed over his shoulder. "I have to pee."

He grabbed another shot of Vodka, gulping it down and ignored the burn. He stumbled slightly as he pushed his way through the crowd. Whoa. His alcohol tolerance _sucked_. He paused at the foot of the stairs, and snatched Ian's drink away from him, to the smaller boy's annoyance. Well, if he was going to get drunk, he might as well get really drunk. He gulped it down as well, before handing it back.

He headed up the stairs, and opened the bathroom door. Two angry shrieks greeted him, and he closed the door before he had the chance to see anything specific. He did recognize the angry shock of red hair that was Johnny McGregor though. When the hell had that boy gotten here? He shook his head, and headed into his grandparent's room, to use their bathroom.

He managed to pee successfully, and wash his hands, but when he went to leave he stumbled on the throw rug beside the tub and fell over with a loud thump.

"Ow!" He cursed, sitting up to rub his elbow, tears welling in his eyes once more.

Feeling he had wasted enough time as it was, he forced himself to stand up, swaying slightly, and headed back into his grandparent's bedroom, only to see Kai sitting on the bed and staring at him, utterly confused.

"Hey," the senior said, "I've been looking for you forever."

"Me too!" Rei said, then flushed. "Yeah." He said.

"You look, eh," Kai said, then shook his head. "Are those new clothes?" He asked instead.

Rei nodded his head. "Yeah. Thanks."

"Do you want to go back downstairs?" Kai asked, and Rei shook his head, no.

"Let's stay up here," the Neko-Jin said.

He moved to sit by Kai, but stumbled slightly in the boots, and ended up practically lying on Kai's lap. After blinking in confusion and wondering what just happened, Rei forced himself to sit up, placing his hand on Kai's leg as a balance, but didn't move it afterwards. Smooth, Rei. Real smooth.

Kai shot Rei a worried look, brushing the smaller male's hand from his thigh. "Thanks for getting me to come out tonight."

"It's no problem," Rei purred, scooting closer, draping his leg across Kai's lap like he'd seen Tala do so many times.

Kai hesitated before pushing Rei's leg off of his lap, and settled with just patting it. No telling what would happen to the drunken Neko-Jin if he did that. "I know I've been acting weird lately," He said after a moment, his red eyes meeting Rei's amber ones, "but it's just embarrassing when you think you know someone and you find out they've been lying to you the whole time. Tala cheated on me before, so I don't know what I was thinking." He clenched his hand into a fist. "I guess I just expected more from Bryan. We've been best friends since we were kids."

"I would never lie to you," Rei purred, reaching up to put a finger on Kai's lips, feeling how soft they were.

Kai brushed his hand away, "No, I know."

"Although," Rei said, laughing slightly. "Okay, listen. Okay?" Kai nodded his head, quirking an eyebrow in confusion. "I did lie to you a little bit, once, but only for really good reasons."

"What do you mean?" Kai asked, frowning.

"I pretended to be bad at math so you would help me," Rei said, grinning from ear to ear. "But I'm not bad at math." He shook his head. "I'm really good at math." He nodded. "You're kind of – no, you're _really_ bad at math." He giggled a bit at this. "But anyway, now I'm failing. Isn't that funny?"

Rei leaned forward to kiss Kai, but the older male stopped him by placing a hand against his chest. "Wait. You're failing math on purpose?" Kai asked incredulously, and Rei nodded. "That's stupid."

"Not on _purpose_," Rei whined, shaking his head. "I couldn't talk to you because you were with Tala. And Tala's so scary... he's so bossy... that I had to..."

"Rei, are you -?" Kai started.

"What the hell is going on?" Tala screamed, kicking the door to the bedroom open.

Choking, Rei brought a hand to his mouth, and before he could stop himself, he puked, the half digested food and Vodka splashing onto his and Kai's laps.

- - -

"Kai!" Rei cried out, stumbling down the street, watching the senior male storm off.

"What the fuck?" Michael snapped, startling Rei.

The Neko-Jin turned around to see Michael sticking his upper body out of the sunroof of a blue car he vaguely recognized as being Max's mother's.

"Oh no," Rei whimpered, bringing his hands to hide his face. "I'm so sorry!" He cried out.

"You shitty little liar," Michael continued, clutching his fists in anger.

"I can explain!" Rei whimpered.

"Explain how you forgot to invite us to your shitty little party?" Michael growled.

"You know I couldn't invite you!" Rei cried out, "I have to pretend to be a Demolition Boy!"

"You're not pretending anymore!" Michael screamed back. "You are a Demolition Boy. You're _the_ Demolition Boy! You fucking prick!"

"Michael, I have a curfew!" Max cried from behind the driver's wheel, "And my mom's going to _kill_ me when she realizes her car is missing!"

"You're the worst," Michael spat with hatred, "At least Tala Ivanov and me know we're mean. You act like you're so fucking innocent! 'Oh, I used to live in China where there's no cable TV or shopping malls!' God!"

"Shut up, Michael!" Rei snapped, his distress finally transforming into anger. "Just shut the fuck up!"

"Curfew," Max whimpered. "1h. It's 1.10h."

"Did you have an awesome time?" Michael continued, undaunted. "Did you drink awesome stolen vodka while listening to awesome music and giving awesome lap dances while soaking up each other's awesomeness?"

"Shut UP!" Rei howled, "It's not my fault you're so fucking obsessed with me!"

"_What_?" Michael asked, his voice dangerously low.

Max stopped the car, and turned to glare at Rei. "Oh no he didn't."

"Obsessed with you?" Michael said, laughing. "I don't even _like_ you. And you know who _else_ doesn't like you? _Kai_ _Hiwatari_. He broke up with Tala, and guess what? He still doesn't want you. So why are you still messing with Tala, Rei? I'll tell you why, because you're a little fucking prick!" He chucked his baseball at Rei, intentionally missing, watching it bounce off of the asphalt to the side of his feet. "You can keep that. We raised almost a quarter million at the Charity event tonight, no support from you."

Max started the car, and Michael slid back into it, clambering into the front seat. Rei watched horror struck, before turning his attention to the baseball that's steadily rolling towards the curb. He walked over to it, and picked it up. Fighting back bitter tears, he tore off for the house, ignoring everything.

He didn't care Tala had figured out that Kälteen bars helped you gain weight. He didn't care that Johnny McGregor was having sex with who knows who in his bathroom. He didn't care that there was smears on the wall from dirty fingers. He didn't care that his house was trashed, almost beyond repair. Rei didn't care about anything anymore, because Michael was right.

What the hell had he become?

* * *

**TBC**


	12. Chapter Twelve

**Standard Disclaimer Applies**

Word Count: Approx. 30,578 (this part, approx. 1,696)

Rants: Hey, another post at an ungodly hour. I do apologize. My B, folks. Only three more chapters after this!

(Oh, and I use the 'f' word in the first paragraph. My B.)

* * *

Rei sunk into his seat in homeroom, staring blankly at the board. Max was glaring holes into the back of Rei's head, and Michael was completely ignoring him. Okay, he deserved that. He fucked up, he got that. But they wouldn't even get him the chance to apologize, and maybe, he didn't deserve to be forgiven.

He bit back bitter tears, and clenched his hand into a fist. God, who could everything go so wrong, so fast?

"Rei, they want you in Dean Tate's office," Mr. Granger said, a hint of surprise in his voice.

Rei looked up confused. A freshman Rei vaguely recognized as being Max's friend Oliver Polanski from his gym class was standing at the door as his escort. The students murmured, and Rei swallowed, nodding his head. He shouldered his bag as he stood up, walked up and accepted the pass from his homeroom teacher.

He turned around to see the cold, unsympathetic looks Max and Michael were giving him. His heart broke into even tinier pieces.

"Lead the way," he muttered to Oliver, who simply ignored him, but did as he was told.

- - -

As Rei stepped into the Deans' office, Mrs. Tate was leading a crying Tala Ivanov out of her office, patting his shoulder gently.

"Go to the nurses office and lie down," She said softly to him, before turning to Rei and ordering, "In here, Mr. Kon."

Tala smirked at Rei as he passed him, shoving him lightly with his shoulder. Mrs. Tate hadn't noticed, so Rei didn't say anything. He just bit his tongue, nodded, and headed into the small office to see Spencer and Ian already sitting there. They both looked nervous, and just as confused as he was.

"What's going on?" Rei asked softly, sitting down.

"Have you seen this before?" Mrs. Tate asked, holding up the Burn Book.

"No," Rei said, then shook his head. "I mean, yes, I've seen it before, but, no, it's not mine."

"You better get your story straight, Mr. Kon," Mrs. Tate warned, in a very serious tone. "Because I'm not messing around here."

"It's not ours," Spencer said, shaking his head as well. "It's Tala's. He's trying to make it look like we wrote it, but he wrote it. Or, most of it."

"Mr. Spencer," Mrs. Tate said, "Why would Tala call himself a-" he paused, to glance at the book. "'A fucking whore prick. Not to be trusted.'?"

Ian bit back a laugh, and Mrs. Tate glared at him.

"Mr. Papov, this is no time to be laughing," Mrs. Tate said, closing the book with a slap.

"Maybe," Spencer pitched, leaning back coolly, "We're not in that book because everybody likes us. I don't want to be punished for being well-liked. And I don't think my father, a very important _scientist_, would be to please about this either." Spencer folded his arms, and cocked his head angrily. "I won't answer any more questions until I have a parent or lawyer present."

Mrs. Tate rolled her eyes, and turned her attention to Ian. "Well, Mr. Papov?" She asked.

"I didn't think anyone else would see it," Ian said softly, looking away ashamed.

"You better hope nobody else ever does see it," Mrs. Tate said warningly. Startled, she glanced up when a secretary entered the room. "What's wrong, Ms. Kincaid?"

"Mrs. Tate, come quick," Ms. Kincaid said in a slightly scared tone, "They've gone wild. The students have gone wild!"

Mrs. Tate nodded and Ms. Kincaid flew back to her spot at the secretary's desk, attempting to answer all of the ringing phones at once, barely having time to say "BBA, Please Hold".

"Wait here," Mrs. Tate said crisply, standing up and stepping out of her office.

Ian, Spencer and Rei all shared a look. No way in hell were they going to just wait there. They jumped up, and rushed to squeeze out of the office and into the halls to see exactly what was going on. Rei paled when he saw brightly coloured xerox copies of the Burn Book floating around the school. He knelt, picking one up. It was Mr. Granger with the thought bubble that read '_I keep drugs in my desk_'.

"Oh god," Rei whispered, crumpling it up in his fist. What had he done?

"Mr. Yamashita, get down from their this instant!" One teacher yelled, only to be attacked by the back swing of a purse.

Two girls were fighting to the death, having successfully already drawn blood.

One male was using his book as a weapon against a smaller male.

A girl was kicking the shit out of an older student.

"Oh, hell no," Mrs. Tate cursed, smashing her hand into a fire alarm. The alarm sounded, and the sprinklers kicked in. Everyone stood in a dull haze, stunned. Mrs. Tate crossed back to her office, and turned on the P.A. "All students please report to the auditorium immediately. _**Immediately**_."

- - -

The students were now all thoroughly soaked, and were sitting on the seats in the auditorium in an awkward, angry silence. Teachers were stalking the isles, ready to stop a fight before it broke out, with the compassion of prison security guards. Rei searched frantically, but Mr. Granger was nowhere to be seen. He bit back tears, and slumped into his seat.

Mrs. Tate stepped up onto the stage, and tapped a microphone, calling attention to herself. "Never, in my fourteen years as an educator have I seen such behavior!" She said into the mic with a steady voice, but it didn't mask the venom beneath her words. "I mean, I've got parents on the phone asking if someone got _shot_. I ought to cancel your Spring Fling."

Mixed cries of "No!" and "Who cares?" Flitted from the students, and Rei spotted Max a couple seats in front of him gasp.

"Now, I'm not going to do that, because we've already paid the caterer," Mrs. Tate continued as if there had been no interruption. "But don't think I'm not taking this book very seriously. One of your teachers, Mr. Granger, has already lost his job over it."

Rei's heart stopped. No. No, no, no, no, _no_! He couldn't be responsible for Mr. Granger's job loss, he _wouldn't_ be. But what could he do?

"This is some serious stuff, folks," Mrs. Tate said, glaring evenly at the students. "The students in this school are in serious need of an attitude makeover. And they are going to get it. From me." A soft murmur in the crowd, but it was too mixed to pick up any single thought. "There will be a full day of workshop for every student this Saturday. Anyone who doesn't show up, won't be allowed to go to Spring Fling, and will be given three consecutive weekends of Saturday school."

"Who cares?" A brave student spat out, over the rest of the crowd.

"Michael Parker, I'd recognize that voice anywhere," Mrs. Tate said with a bitter laugh, "I will see you on Saturday in the gymnasium. Ten o'clock."

- - -

Rei sat at the kitchen table with his grandparents, eating a silent meal. He'd been picking at his meal, too distraught over the days happenings to seriously be able to stomach everything. He bit his lips, and stared at his food, unable to meet his grandparent's eyes.

'Everybody done?' his grandmother asked in Chinese, her tone clipped.

Rei winced. His grandmother always spoke English at home. It was for his benefit, to help him. To hear her revert back to her native tongue in anger was painful. His grandmother stood, grabbing her's and her husband's plates, before grabbing Rei's plate as well and dumping it into the sink.

"I wasn't done-" Rei started, only to be cut off by an angry glare from his grandmother. "Nai-Nai! I didn't do it!"

'I don't know what to believe anymore,' His grandmother replied.

'Believe me!' Rei begged, switching back to Chinese as well. 'I'm your Rei! Your grandson!'

His grandmother ignored him, and reached under the sink to pull out some dish soap. She paused, hesitating slightly, before kneeling and pulling her Buddha out from underneath.

'Why is Buddha under the sink?' his grandmother asked, turning to face him.

"What?" Rei asked, frowning.

'Buddha,' She repeated, holding up the statuette.

He'd completely forgotten about that! It seemed his party had been years ago, instead of merely two days. "I don't know," Rei lied.

'Did you have people here while we were gone?' his grandmother asked, a frown on her normally chipper face.

"Yeah," Rei spat out sarcastically, "I had a huge party and I hid your Buddha because I didn't want anyone to see-"

'Who are you?' His grandmother asked him softly, cutting him off. Her eyes were narrowed, and filled with something Rei couldn't quite identify. Disgust. Disappointment. Shame.

Rei looked away, unable to meet her gaze. She left the room silently.

"She's so happy," Rei muttered, resting his head on the table, "I've been nothing but a bother since I've gotten here. Maybe now I'll finally go home."

'You've never been more wrong,' His grandfather said quietly.

Rei startled, glancing up at him. He'd forgotten all about the older man because of his silent tendencies. He looked at Rei with unreadable eyes, and his tone carried no infliction or hint of a mood.

'Maybe it would be best if I did go back home,' Rei said softly.

'No,' his grandfather said firmly, standing up as well, 'We accepted you here to see the world, and learn. We are not sending you back until you've done just that.'

'I can't go back-' Rei said, struggling to keep his voice from cracking.

'My decision is final,' He said, 'This conversation is over.'

"Wait!" Rei said, standing up, then looked down, humiliated. "Can you sign a paper for me? I'm failing Calculus..."

Rei couldn't look up to see his grandfather's reaction. The old man backhanded him sharply, with a force that Rei never would have thought him to posses. Rei didn't react, just brought a hand to his cheek as it began to sting.

'Thank you,' Rei whispered.

'Go to bed, grandson,' his grandfather replied.

**TBC**


	13. Chapter Thirteen

**Standard Disclaimer Applies**

Word Count: Approx. 30,578 (this part, approx. 2,183)

Rants: So, yeah. If you're familiar you should be able to guess what happens in this chapter.

And I apologize for the end of this. I wrote it three times, and it just seemed like crap, so I left it. Meh.

* * *

Rei climbed out of the backseat of his grandfather's car, staring into the school's parking lot warily. It was almost filled. Today was no different from any other school day on the outside. Inside the workshop would be starting soon, and that was something he was regretting more than anything.

He headed towards the building, pausing on the crosswalk, in the middle of the lane. Mr. Granger was balancing two boxes on one hip, and struggling to open his car with his free hand. He was leaving. Mr. Granger had officially been sacked. Someone honked at Rei, and the Neko-Jin scuttled to the other side of the road and into the building.

The halls were quiet, despite the fact they were filled with students. Everyone he passed turned and glared at him, hushing up instantly when they saw him. He knew what they were talking about. It didn't take a genius. Someone had told he'd been accused of writing the Burn Book. Everyone hated him now.

Good. He deserved this.

Biting back tears of frustration and shame, Rei kept walking until he entered the gym, spotting students sitting in the bleachers in a hushed silence. All eyes were on him once more. Rei kept walking like he hadn't noticed, that he didn't care, but somehow, by the time he reacher the first row of bleachers, all he was seeing was his sneakers.

"Can I sit here?" Rei asked softly, looking up to see Michael.

"Fuck off," Michael said sweetly, smiling at him.

Rei winced, turning to Max. The blonde wouldn't even meet his gaze.

He kept walking. He found a seat in the back of the bleachers, all by himself. After what felt like an eternity, Rei glanced up to see Ian and Spencer sit a few seats away from him. He didn't meet their eyes, and they made no attempts to speak with him. Surprisingly, Rei was okay with this.

"Alright, everybody, listen up," Mrs. Tate said, talking into a microphone despite how quiet it was. "I don't want to be here on a Saturday any more than you do. So the faster we can get through these exercises and fix your self-esteems, the sooner we can get back in bed."

Ms. Kincaid wheeled a chalkboard across the gym's parquet-esque floors, and stopped a few feet away from Mrs. Tate. She handed the dean a piece of chalk, and everyone watched in curious silence as she spelled "CLIQUE" out in large letters.

"Okay," She said, brushing her hands off lightly, "Let's talk about cliques? What is a clique?"

"It's a bunch of people who all conform," the purple-head from Rei's homeroom said, Robert, he thought. "They all dress alike and act alike."

Mrs. Tate nodded her head. "That's right. Very good. Cliques are bad." She said, brushing her bangs from her face. "We have to get rid of cliques." She paused to write a large backslash between the 'C' and 'LIQUE'. "If you see 'c' a 'clique' you gotta 'lique' it." She said, her tone teasing, but her look was very serious.

Rei stared at Mrs. Tate for a moment, a small smile on his face. He'd been so caught up in being a Demolition Boy, he'd failed to realize what was going on around him. He had been convinced the Demolition Boys were not just a clique, but _the_ clique. How stupid he'd been.

"You've been acting really stuck up ever since you switched to Striker," Tyson said to Johnny, a few seats ahead of him. "I mean, more than usual. Kai agrees."

"Kai?" Johnny asked, turning to look at the bluenette.

"Don't drag me into this," Kai muttered, "I'm playing tomorrow."

Rei smiled faintly, glancing at the back of the senior's head. Suddenly, it didn't matter Kai didn't want him anymore. He wouldn't say no if the senior showed any interest, but he found himself not quite as obsessed for winning his affections.

"Why are you always cockblocking me?" MingMing, from Rei's English class asked, a few seats to Rei's left.

"You're just jealous because guys like me better," Another female replied, brushing her red hair over her shoulder in an angry huff.

"Bitch, please," MingMing snorted.

- - -

Rei stood with his arms wrapped himself awkwardly, the crowd he was standing in leaving a circle around him. They were doing a trust exercise. A student would stand on a table and fall backwards, and the others would catch them, and giggles and other sounds of relief with echo through the crowd after each successful attempt.

"Good, next," Mrs. Tate said, watching Oliver fall back and get caught successfully.

Spencer climbed up onto the table next, and an angry hiss emitted from the crowd. Turns out everyone knew Spencer was behind it as well. Mrs. Tate didn't notice though, so Spencer turned and fell, only there was no one there to catch him.

"Is he okay?" Mr. Granger asked, lingering in the large doorway to the gym.

Mrs. Tate glanced up at him sharply, then back at Spencer, who had fallen unconscious. After a moment, the blonde woman nodded her head.

"Wait here, I'll get some ice," she said.

Mr. Granger nodded, and walked to the center of the crowd, the students parting for him like the red sea. He pulled the blonde male to his feet, confused grogginess issuing from the Demolition Boy.

"Walk it off," He said softly, nudging Spencer away from the crowd. "See that guys, your actions have consequences."

"Yeah," Spencer snorted. "If someone falls and you don't catch them, they get hurt!"

"Yeah, and if you piss people off, they won't catch you," Mr. Granger replied, not missing a beat. He turned his attention back to everyone else. "Everybody, take out a piece of paper."

- - -

Mr. Granger had everyone write out apologies to everyone they'd ever hurt. Just glancing at the piece of paper clutched in Rei's hand, he knew it wasn't going to be enough. There was no way to apologize for everything he'd done and everyone he'd hurt.

"Tyson, I'm sorry I called you a fat ass, but you really shouldn't be such a pig when you're a guest in someone else's home though."

"Carlos, I'm sorry I said your eyebrows were hideous. It's not your fault."

"Oliver, I'm sorry I called you a whore, even if it is true."

"Mr. Granger," Tala said, snapping Rei out of his own thoughts, "I'm sorry you lost your job." The red head was staring at the math teacher with a look Rei couldn't read. "I wouldn't have given Mrs. Tate the book if I knew you really had a drug problem."

"Tala Ivanov," Mr. Granger said, a hint of annoyance in his voice. "Every student here is afraid of you. Hell, I'm afraid of you half the time. But I've met punks like you before, and I can tell you this: if you don't change your life, you're about ten years away from being a divorced Real Estate agent with chipped nails."

"Excuse me?" Tala asked icily, glaring daggers at Mr. Granger now.

"And don't think Tala is the meanest kid in school," Mr. Granger said to the crowd at large. "I have never met anyone as mean as Ozuma."

The male could only assume was Ozuma let out an amused laugh, hands on his hips.

"I've seen Ozuma make a kid cry only be looking at them," Mr. Granger continued, "Go on, do it."

Ozuma glared at the students, and several steps backwards were taken. Point proven, Mr. Granger.

"You guys act like you've got it all under control, but I know you're all freaking out inside," Mr. Granger said, a sad smile on his face at this point. "You feel like everybody else has some kind of secret guidebook on how to be perfect and smart and well liked and you're just a goon. That's because you're still changing. Not everybody looks their best in high school."

Soft murmurs spread through the crowd once more. Mr. Granger met Rei's eyes, and he wasn't quite sure what his (ex-)teacher was thinking. "Rei, do you have anything you want to apologize for?"

"No," Rei replied softly, forcing himself to remain lock-eyed with Mr. Granger.

"Really?" Mr. Granger asked with a hint of sarcasm, "You haven't done anything bad?"

Rei shook his head, feeling his shame and tears well up within him. "_No_." he repeated.

"You really disappointed me this year, Rei," Mr. Granger said softly, his expression distant. "When I met you, you were unique. You were talented. Now it's like you went from being a sunflower to being a picture of a sunflower on a box of Kleenex."

He cocked his head to the side, glancing at Spencer. "And Spencer Sergei," He said, "You are so desperate for someone to tell you that you're worth something. Tell yourself. Say one positive thing about yourself. Right now."

"You are not officially leading this workshop-" Spencer argued, caught off guard.

"Do it!" Mr. Granger ordered.

"I have a nice smile?" Spencer asked, and Mr. Granger nodded, smiling.

"Was that so hard?" He asked, before turning back to the group. "Stand up. Everyone of you is going to say one positive thing about yourselves. And don't say you have nice eyes, because that is the _oldest_ trick in the book."

"I'm good at sports."

"I have nice hair."

"I have strong legs."

"I'm dependable."

"I can race to the moon and back in five minutes," Michael said, and laughter rippled through the crowd.

"Something _true_, Michael," Mr. Granger said with an amused smile.

Michael shrugged. "Baseball. I'm good at baseball."

Mr. Granger quirked an eyebrow. "Something we don't know."

"What? That's bullshit!" Michael argued. "I won't do it. I gave you an answer."

"Michael..." Mr. Granger warned.

"No offense, but you can go fuck yourself," Michael snorted, adjusting his baseball cap on his head.

There was a moment of stunned silence, before everyone started to laugh. Even Mr. Granger was able to force a smile through after his initial insulted and shocked expression.

Michael attempted to worm his way back into the crowd, but paused suddenly. Turning around, he said "Mr. Granger, I have an apology."

"Go ahead," the ex-teacher replied.

"Okay, I have this friend who's a new student this year," Michael said, walking over to stand by Rei, glaring icily at Tala who was a few feet to the Neko-Jin's left, "And I convinced him it would be fun to mess up Tala Ivanov's life. So I had him pretend to be Tala's friend, and then he would come over to my basement and we would just laugh about all the stupid stuff Tala said. And we tricked Tala into eating these candy bars that would make him gain weight-"

Ian and Spencer let out sounds of amusement, though their expressions were shocked. The looks Tala threw them silenced them immediately though, before the blue eyed red head turned his attention back to Michael.

"-and we turned his best friends against him," Michael said, and impressed murmurs followed. "And then Rei, you know my friend Rei, he made out with Tala's boyfriend-"

"Wait Fine!" Rei snapped, sending an annoyed but thankful look at Michael, who just rolled his eyes and cuffed him lightly on the shoulder. "I'll tell the truth. Tala..." He paused, glancing at the red head nervously. "I kissed Kai while he was still your boyfriend. I'm the one that told him you were cheating on him. And I rigged your scale so it would always say 112." Rei paused, looking at the ground for a moment, utterly ashamed, before forcing himself to meet Tala's icy gaze. "And I am so sorry, Tala. I wish I could take it all back, because it makes me feel so sick inside."

"Yeah, Tala," Michael snorted sarcastically, "So sorry. I guess we were just jealous of you."

Applause broke out in the crowd, and Tala stormed off in an angry huff. After through a brief, awkward hug around Michael's neck, Rei took off after him. Tala ignored his cries of protests to stop, and was able to storm off into the street before Rei managed to grab his arm and whirl him around.

"Tala, wait," Rei said, "I didn't mean for that to happen!"

"For me to find out that everyone hates me?" Tala spat out bitterly. "I don't care. You wanna know what everyone else says about you? They say you're a Chinese voodoo mountain freak who's a less hot version of me. Yeah. So you can take your fake apology and stick it up your-"

In a fit on anger, Tala shoved Rei, and the smaller Neko-Jin stumbled backwards falling onto his ass. Unwittingly, the redhead has just saved his life. A large bus came whipping around the corner, smashing into Tala before it even had the chance to register the fact someone had been in the middle of the road.

There was a screeching of tires, followed by a deathly silence before all hell broke loose.

* * *

**TBC**


	14. Chapter Fourteen

**Standard Disclaimer Applies**

Word Count: Approx. 30,578 (this part, approx. 2,004)

Rants: My B. I was supposed to update this yesterday, but my friend Sachiela was over. Then Law & Order SVU demanded my attention. I'm so going to have lesbian babies with Detective Benson. ;)

So, yeah. Here you go.

And download "Luckiest Loser" and "I'm Gay!" by Bowling For Soup when you get the chance. No real reason why. They're fantastic songs.

* * *

Tala didn't die. He was hurt pretty badly. He was holed up in the hospital, and not allowed any visitors on the strict orders of his father. Rei wasn't even sure if he would be able to go if it was allowed. He didn't think he'd be able to face the red head just yet.

- - -

"Michael!" Rei called across the field, running to cross the distance shortly. "Hey!" He said gasping, putting his hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath. "Are we still in a fight?"

"Are you still an asshole?" Michael asked, eying Rei warily.

"No," Rei replied, shaking his head. "I don't think so."

"Then I guess we're cool," Michael said, shrugging.

"Yay!" Max cried, tackling Rei to the ground, hugging him tightly as he did so. "Man, have I missed being friends."

"Me too," Rei said, laughing, hugging the blonde male back, before shoving him off so he could sit up.

"So, what brought about this change of heart?" Michael asked. He pulled his baseball cap off to ruffle his hair, and scratch the back of his head. Rei gave Michael a strange look, and the red head put his hat back on. "What?"

"I've never seen you without your hat on," Rei replied, smiling. He shook his head, "But. Change of heart." He stared at his hands in silence for a moment. "I've been such an ass lately. And after Tala-" he tightened his hands into fists, forcing the emotions away. "I've realized something. I'm going to be better. I'm going to make everything better."

"I don't think that's possible, man," Michael said, frowning slightly.

"I know," Rei said, forcing a smile. "But I'm going to try. That has to be worth something, right?"

"You bet," Max said, grinning. "And we'll help!"

"Really?" Rei asked, a little surprised. "I mean, this is something I should really do on my own-"

"Shut up, Karate," Michael said, "We're your friends. We're going to help you whether you like it or not."

Rei tackled Michael in a hug. "Thank you so much!"

"Oh god! Get off of me!" Michael cried out, trying to force the Neko-Jin away from him.

Max threw himself on top of the other two, cackling madly. "All for one, and one for all!"

"GET OFF OF ME!" Michael bellowed, but Rei and Max only laughed harder.

- - -

_It seems like the more people who fear you, the more flowers you get_, Rei thought as he stepped out of the elevator and headed to Tala's room in the hospital. The place was packed full of well wishers, and vegetation. He hadn't even made it to the door when he felt a gentle hand on his shoulder.

"Mrs. Tate!" Rei exclaimed, surprised to see the dean there.

"I wouldn't even bother," She said, smiling kindly. "Tala is pitching a fit. It's only a matter of time before the nurses scare everyone away, if he doesn't manage to do it himself."

"That sounds like Tala..." Rei said softly, glancing into the room. People were already starting to flee. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to check up on one of my students, of course," Mrs. Tate said, a little surprised Rei had asked. "I can't help but thinking, if I hadn't thrown the Workshop that day, at that time..." She let her voice trail off sadly. "I know it's not my fault, but still. One of my student's got hurt on my grounds."

"He's going to be okay then?" Rei asked.

"Oh, he'll be fine," Mrs. Tate replied, "The way I've heard it, any way." A dark look crossed her face, and she reminded him of Max so much at the moment Rei could laugh. "His parent's aren't particularly worried. But he'll be fine. A broken spine, but nothing the doctor's can't fix."

"He'll be back to terrorizing everyone at school in no time?" Rei asked, smiling faintly.

"He should be back in a few days," Mrs. Tate replied, then glanced at her watch. "I really should be going. I promised Maxxie I'd take him out to dinner tonight."

"Okay, tell Max I said 'hi', please," Rei said, and Mrs. Tate nodded.

Rei watched her walk towards the elevator a small frown on his face. He was forgetting something, he just knew he was. Oh!

"Wait, Mrs. Tate!" Rei called, running after her, and caught the elevator door before it had the chance to close.

"What's wrong?" She asked, surprised.

"You've got to hire Mr. Granger back!" Rei demanded. He couldn't believe he had almost forgotten.

"Oh, Mr. Kon, I'm sorry," Mrs. Tate said. She looked it, too. "But there's nothing I can do if he won't tell me where those pills came from."

Rei moved his hand, and let the door's close. If that was the case, then he knew what he had to do. There was only one person who would be able to help save Mr. Granger.

- - -

"Enrique, we need to talk!" Rei demanded, practically kicking the blonde's bedroom door open.

Enrique glanced over at Rei, and his loyal Max, a confused but slightly amused look on his face. He had a strobe light on, and house music was blaring on his stereo. Max yanked the cords on both, before scowling. Rei and Max surrounded Enrique, forcing him to stay put and stare up at them helplessly.

"Enrique, I thought you liked Mr. Granger," Rei said, hands on his hips.

"I do," Enrique said, still smiling in his confusion. "I love Mr. Granger."

"Then why did you get him fired?" Rei demanded.

"I didn't," Enrique replied, then frowned. "Did I?" He glanced between Max and Rei, suddenly becoming suspicious. "Wait, what?"

"Okay, Enrique, here's what you are going to do," Rei said, continuing as if the blonde hadn't even interrupted him.

- - -

"Hey," Kai said, turning to face Rei in his seat. "Who are you going to Spring Fling with?"

"I'm not," Rei said in a bored tone, not even looking up from his Calculus homework. "I'm going to the state finals with the Mathletes. Why? Who are you going with?"

Kai knocked on his desk gently, distracting Rei from his work. He stood, and smiled slyly as he shouldered his book bag. "I don't know," he replied smoothly, "Nobody cool is available." He turned on his heel and left, waving goodbye without turning to look back.

Rei blinked in confusion. _What the- holy cow!_ He thought. Kai Hiwatari was going to – was possibly going to- ask him to go the Spring Fling with him. And he blew it! Being the new _honest_, Rei, that _did the right thing_ sucked. It sucked hard. With an aggravated sigh, he let his head thump against his desk.

"Ow..."

- - -

"You told him 5.10h, right?" Max asked, glancing at his watch.

"Yeah," Rei said, nodding his head. "And I know it's 6.10, so stop checking your watch."

Max let out and annoyed sound, before drawing his knees to his chest on the flimsy, uncomfortable plastic chair, and wrapping his arms around them. They were at the District Hearing, waiting to save Mr. Granger's job. Enrique had to show up first, and that was starting to look like it might not happen.

"Why do drugs make people so stupid?" Max asked, irritated.

"Rei, you're up," Mrs. Tate said, poking her head outside of the Board room.

Rei nodded, and stood up. "Bring Enrique in as _soon_ as he gets here." Max nodded his head, and Rei followed Mrs. Tate back into the board room.

A stern looking woman was sitting at the head of the large desk, and Mrs. Tate gestured for Rei to sit between her and Mr. Granger, and to remain silent for the moment.

"Next up," the stern woman said, "we have a student, Rei Kon, who would like to speak on Mr. Granger's behalf. Rei?"

Rei threw Mrs. Tate a quizzical look, and she gestured at the microphone in front of him on the table. Clearing his throat, Rei asked, "Hi, how's it going?" The board just stared with a stony gaze. "Um, first off I want to say that Mr. Granger is an excellent teacher and our school would suffer without him."

"That may be true, Mr. Kon," The stern woman said, "but being in possession of any illegal substances is an offense we simply cannot overlook."

"Well, okay," Rei said, nodding his head in understanding. "Well those pills are not his, and, I should know, because I'm the person that started the rumor that they were." Rei dared a glance at Mr. Granger, taking in his surprised expression. "It was really stupid of me, and I'm sorry." He glanced over at the door nervously. Where was Enrique? "The person they really belong to is on his way here to tell the truth... I'm sure he'll be here any second."

Rei shifted awkwardly, glanced at his watch, and tried to come up with a way to stall for time. He didn't think they'd go for a rendition of "Bohemian Rhapsody", even if he could see sing it pretty good. Better than Michael, in any case.

"We can't wait indefinitely, Mr. Kon," the stern woman said, glancing at her own watch.

"I'm here, y'all!" Max bursts into the wearing a fedora, a pink backpack, and sucking on a pacifier. Did the blonde always carry that stuff with him?

"Maxxie?" Mrs. Tate mouthed in shock.

Max hopped up onto the table, sitting between his mom and Rei, his back to the rest of the board. He grabbed the pitcher of water and started drinking from it, chugging the ice cold water like it was essential to his life.

"Whoo!" He cheered, putting the pitcher back, and spun around to face everyone else. He crossed his legs in the full lotus position, and put his hands on his knees. "Hi, my name is Max Tate and I'm a former ecstasy addict." He paused, glancing around. "This is the part where you're supposed to say, 'Hi, Maxxie'."

"Hello, Max," The stern woman said, clearly not impressed.

"That man, Mr. Not-sure-about-his-first-name Granger, saved my life," Max said, jerking his thumb towards the teacher. "I was doing E three, four, maybe five times a day. Do you know what ecstasy _does_ to your body? It makes your spinal fluids come out. I getting high off my own _spinal_ _fluid_! Me life was one big rave! I'd listen to house music for _hours_."

"Maxxie?" Mrs. Tate asked, touching her son's arm in concern, but he brushed it away and flashed her a goofy grin.

"Have you ever heard of house music?" Max asked the room, cocking his head to the side. "It sucks. _Really_. But I didn't know that. If Mr. Granger hadn't taken those pills away from me, and talked to me about the perils of drug use, I would not be here today. I would probably be a dead homeless person listening to house music."

"Oh, hey, am I early?" Enrique asked, peeking his head through the set of double doors leading to the board room.

"Okay, I lied," Max said, grinning. "It was this guy. Go 'head, Enrique."

Surprisingly, Enrique did. He took a seat by Mr. Granger, and told the whole story. About how Mr. Granger had taken the pills, called his parents. How he hadn't gotten high since September. He didn't want to let Mr. Granger down, and he didn't want to lose him as a teacher, even if he was technically a senior.

Even more surprising than that, Rei thought, was the fact that the board room were genuinely interested and concerned.

- - -

Mr. Granger got his job back. He hugged Enrique, who smiled sheepishly, patting his arm shyly. He was sentenced to drug counseling, which he promised to attend. Rei himself got two weeks of detention. Max was grounded for a month for humiliating his mother and lying about something so serious in public.

All in all, things were starting to look up.

**TBC**

Also, StZen, you have no idea how much I love you. Thank you for reading and reviewing every chapter. Also thanks to Kelseywazhere and glitteredvixen06. You guys inspire me to update. (Sachiela, you do not. JK.)


	15. Chapter Fifteen: The End

**Standard Disclaimer Applies**

Word Count: Approx. 30,578 (this part, approx. 2,447)

Rants: I just wanted to take a quick moment and thank everybody once again for reviewing. Your comments mean a lot to me, and inspired me to finish this at a reasonable rate. I don't know what to do without you guys. Unfortunately, while playing with these characters was fun, I think this will probably be my last dabble in the Beyblade Fandom. It's a dying community, even though it's die hard fans are all really good people. I enjoyed listening to you guys, and feel free to PM me whenever. :)

So, before I forget, here, my friends, is the **final chapter**. Enjoy.

* * *

"We had our finals at U of C last year," Emily explained, driving her parent's minivan, "It's kind of a tough room."

Rei nodded his head in understanding. As promised, to make some extra credit to not fail Calculus, and because he owed so much to Mr. Granger, Rei was attending the Mathletes final with the rest of the team. Max and Michael had slunk off to attend the Spring Fling, promising to inform him about who hooked up with who.

"The crowd gets pretty rowdy," Kenny said, glancing up from his laptop briefly.

"But don't worry," Emily said, smiling, "We've got your back."

- - -

"The Abbey," Emily said, sneering, "Those no good sons of -"

"Hey guys," Mr. Granger greeted, cutting Emily off, patting her shoulder. "It's all you. Make me look good out there. I've got quite a reputation to build back up."

"Of course," Emily replied, grinning.

Mr. Granger grabbed Rei by the shoulders, smiling at him, radiating confidence. "You nervous?"

Rei nodded. "Yes," he said.

"Don't be," Mr. Granger replied. "You can do this. There is nothing to break your focus, because not one of those Abbey boys is cute."

Rei let out a strained laugh, nodding his head. Mr. Granger cuffed him lightly on the shoulder.

"Win this, Kids," he said.

- - -

"BBA," a middle aged man with a soft voice spoke, "A 555-mile, 5-hour plane trip was flown at two speeds. For the first part of the trip, the average speed was 105 MPH. The remained of the trip was flown at 115 MPH. For how long did the plane fly at each speed?"

The rest of the team started scribbling quickly, but Rei simply clutched at his pencil. He should know how to do this. He had to make a box, or something. He hesitated before drawing a line, but Emily buzzed in.

"Two hours at 105 and three hours at 115!" She gushed, and the buzzer with the green light lit up.

"Oh god," Rei muttered, glancing at his paper. He was rusty. Really, really rusty. And that was simple _Algebra_.

- - -

"Twice the large of two numbers is three more than five times the smaller, and the sum of four times the larger and three times the smaller is 71. What are the numbers?"

"14 and 5," A male from The Abbey replied, and the Correct buzzer went off.

"BBA, a shoe store uses a 40 markup on cost. Find the cost of a pair of shoes that sells for 63."

Everyone turned to Rei expectantly, and he coughed nervously before saying "45?"

The Correct buzzer went off, and Rei relaxed visibly.

- - -

"After eighty seven minutes of very competitive play, we have a tie." The audience applauded, and the BBA Mathletes team shared an awkward smile. This was make it or break it. "In the event of a tie, we move into a sudden death round. The judges have randomly selected one person from each team. From The Abbey we'll take Mister Dunga Edwards, and from BBA, we'll take Mister Rei Kon."

Rei stood up, flashing a scared look at the rest of the team. They shared his feelings on this one. Emily touched his shoulder lightly, trying to encourage him, and Rei nodded before walking up and standing behind one of two podiums. He glanced into the crowd and spotted his grandparents. His grandmother smiled brightly, and his grandfather nodded his head.

"Mr. Edwards will go first. Mr. Edwards, a driver has a license plate that read 'tan 90'. What kind of car is she driving, and why?"

"She's driving an Infinity, because tan 90 goes to infinity," Dunga replied.

"That's not math!" Emily cried out, "That's a novelty question!"

"Mr. Kon, the product of two consecutive negative even integers is 24. Find the numbers."

"Negative 6, and negative 4," Rei replied.

"Mr. Edwards, find the limits of this equation."

The host hit a button on his clicker, and the overhead flashed an equation onto the wall behind him, and Dunga scrambled to solve it.

"The limit is negative one," Dunga said, after a few moments.

"Incorrect."

The crowd gasped, and The BBA Mathletes shot each other hopeful glances.

"We are in sudden death. If Mr. Kon can complete the problem correctly, we'll have our winner."

All eyes were turned on Rei, but he forced himself to ignore them as he turned to face the equation. Limits. Why couldn't he remember anything about limits? Oh, Kai had switched his shampoo that week. Something a little less sweet, and a little more spicy. Very sexy. _No, Rei, focus, _Rei cursed himself. What was behind Kai's head?

"If the limit never approaches anything," Rei muttered, and a grin plastered it's way across his face. "The limit does not exist!" He said.

"Our new state champions are the Boris Balcov Academy Mathletes!"

Rei barely had time to shake hands with Dunga before the rest of the team had swamped him, hugging and patting him on his back. Emily was holding the statue above her head, laughing happily, and Rei was almost positive she was crying a little bit.

- - -

The van chirped softly as Emily unlocked it, and before anyone could climb in she opened the trunk, and pulled out a slightly bulging cardboard box.

"I wanted to surprise you guys," She said, smiling as she passed them out.

Rei looked over Kenny's shoulder at the purple and black jacket, who holding it up to look at it better. "Nice." He said, reading the 'BBA MATHLETES' embroidered on the back.

"Sweet!" Kenny cheered, "You went with the leather sleeves."

"Here, Kon," Emily smiled, handing him one of his own.

"Thanks," He said, smiling sheepishly, but accepted none the less.

"Good job, team," Emily said. "We're going to look so awesome when we roll into Spring Fling with these."

"Oh no," Rei said, shaking his head, "I'm not going."

"Why not?" Emily asked, frowning.

"I'm not dressed right," Rei shrugged.

"Oh no," Emily sighed, shaking her head. "I'm not hearing that."

- - -

Flushing, Rei slipped into the boy's bathroom after they arrived at the school. He almost ran head first into Tala, who had some strange sort of spinal halo on. He paused awkwardly, and opened his mouth to say something, but closed it again. Tala eyed him icily.

"You look really good," Rei decided on after a moment.

"I'm wearing a spinal halo," Tala deadpanned.

"I'm really sorry about the bus," Rei said, "I feel like it's my fault."

"Why?" Tala spat out bitterly, "Are you a superhero? Do you control the buses? Stop trying to make this about you. _I'm_ the one who got hit."

"No, I know," Rei said, shaking his head, "But I'm sorry about all the other stuff."

"Okay," Tala said after a moment, "I'm going to forgive you, because I'm a very Zen person and also I'm on a lot of pain medication right now." He paused, staring at Rei for a moment, eying him carefully. He let out an aggravated sigh before continuing. "I'm – Ugh – I'm sorry I took Kai from you like that. He really does like you, you know."

"What?" Rei asked, shocked.

"He was always talking about how 'unusual' you are," Tala snorted, "It pissed me off so bad. It was, like, when I was seven I had this really expensive jungle gym thing. It was so gay, and I never played with it, so my mom wanted to give it to my cousin. Even though I didn't want it anymore-"

"-you begged your mom to let you keep it?" Rei guessed.

"No, I smashed it with a baseball bat," Tala said, smirking slightly.

After a moment of silence, both of them burst out laughing at that thought.

"I smashed it so no one else could have it," Tala grinned. "But that's just me..."

"Hey, Tala," Ian said, poking his head into the bathroom, "They're going to announce the King!"

Tala rolled his eyes, but followed the shorter male out all the same.

Rei smiled sheepishly, and nodded his head at Ian.

- - -

"Do we have all our King and Queen nominees on stage?" Mrs. Tate asked, glancing behind her and counting. "Good. Let me start by saying that you're all winners tonight and I could not be happier that the school year is ending. Here we go, you're Spring Fling Queen is – Hilary Tatibana!"

The crowd applauded, and Hilary stepped forward for Mrs. Tate to put the crown on her head.

"Congratulations, Hilary. And your Spring Fling King, future co-chair of the Student Activities Board and winner of a 25 gift certificate to The International House of Pancakes is – Rei Kon!"

The crowd applauded once more. Startled, but pushed forth by the rest of the Spring Fling King nominee's, Rei stumbled to stand by Hilary before Mrs. Tate. He smiled awkwardly while she put the crown on him.

"Wow, thanks," Rei said, glancing out into the crowd, and speaking for all of them to hear. "I've never been to one of these things before, but, when I think of how many people cried over it..." Rei shook his head. "It seems kind of ridiculous. I think everybody looks like royalty tonight. Look at Ozuma. That fedora is amazing. And MingMing. Your hair must have taken ages to do."

He paused, glancing down at the plastic crown in his hands, and tested it's durability.

"So why is everybody stressing over this thing?" Rei asked, "It's just a piece of plastic. I could really just-" He applied pressure, snapping it in half easily. "-share it. I share this with Spencer Sergei-" he snapped the crown into even smaller pieces, tossing one to a very shocked Spencer. "-partial Spring Fling King, Johnny McGregor-" he threw a piece to the red head who blinked at it in confusion,"-Michael Parker-" he threw a piece underhand to the baseball player, who clutched at it like an Oscar "-and Tala Ivanov. He got hit by a bus, and he still looks like a freaking sexy rock star."

He tossed a piece to Tala, who caught it and waved it to the crowd, an amused smirk on his face. "Thanks," He said.

Rei tucked the last piece of the crown on his head, an amused smile on his face as he did so. The crowd cheered, and Rei turned to glance at Mrs. Tate. "Can we dance now?" He asked.

Mrs. Tate laughed, amused, and nodded her head. The DJ started the music, and before Michael and Rei had a chance to sneak off their separate ways, Max grabbed them both around the wrists and dragged them into the middle of the dance floor.

Rei allowed Max to dance between him and Michael like some sort of whore, laughing as he glanced around into the crowd. Hilary Tatibana was dancing with Kenny from the Mathletes, so he felt no need to go dance with his Queen. The crowd was mixed though, with people of all shapes, sizes and levels of coolness dancing together.

If there was one thing Rei learned this year, for sure, it was that tearing someone else down would not make his life any better. Calling someone fat would not make him any thinner, and telling someone they're stupid doesn't make him any smarter. It's something he should have known from the start, he knows that, but somehow he'd missed that lesson.

Kai approached, and Rei stopped dancing to smile at him warmly.

"On behalf of the senior class," Kai said, "I'd like to present you with this 25 gift certificate to IHOP." He held the paper out before him, but before Rei could take it, Michael snatched it away.

"Thanks, sucker!" He laughed, grabbing Max and dragged the blonde off, leaving Kai and Rei alone in the middle of the dance floor.

"Congratulations on winning state," Kai said.

"I was so nervous," Rei laughed. "They made us do Limits. I thought I was gonna hurl."

Kai took a step back, a none-to-pleasant event flashing to the front of his mind. "How's your stomach now?"

Rei let out a pained laugh. "It's fine."

"You nauseous at all?" Kai asked.

"Nope," Rei said, shaking his head.

"Have you been drinking?" Kai continued.

"Nuh-uh," Rei replied.

"Okay," Kai said, "grool."

Rei opened his mouth to reply to that, but Kai pressed their lips together in a kiss.

- - -

After the dance, Michael, Max, Kai, Rei, Ian and Emily all somehow ended up at IHOP together. They sat there, laughing for hours, stealing food from each other, chucking napkins, and just being an over all disturbance to the rest of the early morning patrons. Rei couldn't think of a time he'd ever been happier, even as they were ushered out of the building.

Kai dropped Rei off at home, and kissed him goodnight, even though technically it was almost 07h. This was something Rei could get used to. He was 100, perfectly, no doubt, okay with this.

- - -

"-so, Max said," Michael said between laughs, shoving the boy sitting shoulder to shoulder with him lightly. "'Rien has to mean something!'"

"Turns out," Max said, grinning sheepishly, "'Rien' literally means 'nothing'. And I had gotten freaked out about nothing."

Rei laughed so hard, that the coke shot out of his nose. This of course caused Michael, Max, Kai, Emily, Spencer, Ian and Tala to laugh even harder.

"Oh god," Rei said, bringing a hand up to his nose, trying to ignore the burn. Kai rubbed his back sympathetically, but continued to laugh at him all the same. "Jerk," Rei said, shoving him lightly.

"God, I am going to miss you guys this summer," Spencer said, stretching his arms above his head.

"No doubt," Emily agreed, "You guys are something else."

She flashed a shy smile at Michael, who looked away awkwardly, turning his line of view away from Max, who took the opportunity to pounce him, ripping the baseball cap from the other's head.

"I WIN!" He called, waving the hat around.

"Max! Give that back," Michael cried, but as light as Max was, he was still pinned down.

Oh, yeah, no doubt Rei was going to miss this. He rested his head on Kai's shoulder, stretching his neck slightly to kiss the senior's cheek lightly.

"Get a room," Tala huffed, tossing an empty of bottle of coke at them, but his smile was good natured.

"If you insist," Kai said, turned and pinned Rei down, smothering the Neko-Jin with kisses.

Oh yeah. This is one thing he wasn't going to be able to go a day without doing.

"Argh!"

"Knock it off, you two!"

"Where's my camera? Blackmail! BLACKMAIL!"

* * *

**Finished**


End file.
